THE 

NEW  WORLD 


HUGH  BLACK. 


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The  New  World 


THE  WORKS  of 
HUGH  BLACK 

THE  FRIENDSHIP  SERIES 

Friendship 
Work 
Comfort 
Happiness 


The  New  World 
The  Open  Door 
Culture  and  Restraint 
'^Accordingf  to  My  Gospel'^ 
Listening  to  God 
Christ's  Service  of  Love 
The  Gift  of  Influence 


/  AP 


/ 


N 


The  New  World 


=^^'^'5  1916 


HUGH^BLACK 

Author  of  '^Frie7idshipy^  etc.,  etc. 


New  York         Chicago         Toronto 
Fleming     H.     Revell     Company 

London        and        Edinburgh 


Copyright,  19 1 5,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  125  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:      100    Princes    Street 


Preface 


HE  most  casual  observer  can 
see  that  all  is  not  well  with 
religion  to-day.  The  world 
never  stood  in  greater  need 
of  religion,  but  somehow  it  is 
not  as  effective  a  force  as  it  has  been  and  as  it 
might  be.  A  great  historian  says  that  modern 
experience  has  furnished  much  evidence  of  the 
insufficiency  of  mere  intellectual  education  if 
it  is  unaccompanied  by  the  education  of  the 
character,  and  it  is  on  this  side  that  modern 
education  is  most  defective.  Some  of  the 
weakness  is  due  to  the  fact  that  our  religion 
has  not  been  fully  responsive  to  the  thought  of 
the  age.  It  turns  back  to  the  past  for  forms  in 
which  to  state  its  realities.  It  seeks  expression 
in  antique  ritual  and  obsolete  symbolism.  In 
the  face  of  the  great  changes  of  our  time  the 
Church  as  a  whole  is  timid  and  conservative. 
If  there  is  much  indifference  to  religion,  there 
is  little  use  in  indulging  in  the  common  super- 

5 


Prefc 


rejace 

ficial  explanations  and  the  usual  fatuous  con- 
demnations. The  real  reason  is  that  the  mes- 
sage is  not  holding  the  intellect  and  gripping 
the  conscience  of  men. 

The  first  thing  needful  is  to  know  the  actual 
world  in  which  we  live,  the  conditions  that  help 
or  hinder  the  Christian  message,  the  forces  that 
must  be  allowed  to  shape  that  message  before 
it  can  be  applied  to  the  clamant  needs  of  our 
age.  This  book  attempts  to  estimate  these 
forces  which  are  creating  the  unrest,  in  order 
that  we  may  make  the  adjustment  which  will 
bring  back  to  religion  the  days  of  its  power. 
The  first  four  chapters  were  written  for  Every- 
hody^s  Magazine.  This  has  conditioned  the 
style  of  the  book,  and  the  author  is  grateful 
that  he  has  been  compelled  to  avoid  technical 
language,  which  can  be  a  snare  to  the  writer  as 
well  as  an  obscurity  to  the  reader.  It  is  also  a 
hopeful  sign  of  the  times  that  such  a  great 
popular  magazine  should  open  its  pages  to  a 
serious  discussion  of  religion. 

H.  B. 


Contents 

I. 

The  Changing  Order   . 

• 

9 

II. 

The  Forces  of  Unrest 

• 

•       37 

III. 

The  Acid  of  Criticism 

• 

65 

IV. 

The  Method  of  Science 

•                1 

89 

V. 

The  Movement  of  Democracy 

117 

VI. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Age 

• 

141 

VII. 

The   Principles    of  Reconstruc- 

tion .... 

•                i 

163 

VIII. 

The  Things  that  Remain 

•                i 

189 

IX. 

The  Victory  of  Faith  . 

•                       i 

215 

The  Changing  Order 


The  old  order  changeth,  yielding  place  to  new. 

And  God  fulfills  Himself  in  many  ways 

Lest  one  good  custom  should  corrupt  the  world. 

— Tennyson. 


THE  CHANGING  ORDER 


E  are  living  in  a  new  world. 
Change  has  been  gradual  and 
yet  in  the  mass  has  been  very 
rapid.  So  that  we  look  out 
upon  a  world  very  different 
from  that  of  any  previous  generation.  No- 
where is  the  change  so  radical  as  in  religion. 
This  is  to  be  expected,  since  religion  has 
to  do  with  the  fundamental  aspects  of  life. 
Sooner  or  later  we  must  make  adjustment  to 
the  world  in  which  we  live,  if  only  that  we 
may  fit  in  comfortably  with  our  environment. 
Success  in  all  types  of  life  consists  in  acquiring 
adaptation  to  environment  and  adjustment  to 
change.  Change  in  physical  climate  is  usually 
slow,  otherwise  life  would  have  perished  off  the 
earth,  but  plant  and  animal  life  has  to  adjust 
itself  to  the  change,  or  disappear.     Change  in 

intellectual  climate  is  slow,  but  is  none  the 

II 


12  The  New  World 

less  sure,  and  theological  and  all  established 
forms  of  thinking  have  to  make  adjustment. 

Tlie  process  is  often  difficult  and  sometimes 
painful,  though  some  of  the  pain  may  be  of  the 
nature  of  "  growing  pains."  Men  of  an  older 
generation  find  themselves  out  of  sympathy 
with  the  movement  of  thought  and  the  new 
point  of  view  of  life  around  them.  Their  atti- 
tude often  is  one  of  lament  for  the  past,  and 
fear  for  the  future.  They  assert  shrilly  that 
things  are  going  all  wrong,  and  trace  every 
modern  evil  to  the  fact  that  the  world  no 
longer  stands  in  the  old  path.  It  has  to  be 
said  that  sometimes  the  difficulty  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  they  have  settled  down  on  an  ancient 
foundation  of  creed,  and  have  never  had  the 
courage  to  reconstruct  their  intellectual  life 
over  again. 

Recently  I  received  from  a  friend  a  letter  in 
which  this  sentence  occurs  :  "  Things  here  are 
much  as  usual,  except  that  a  generation  is  grow- 
ing up  whose  views  I  do  not  profess  to  under- 
stand." This  is  the  fate  of  all  of  us  to  some 
extent  as  we  grow  older,  but  it  should  not  be  so 
universal.     It  is  because  we  stand  still,  and  let 


"The  Changing  Order  13 

the  procession  of  life  go  past  us.  Harvey,  the 
discoverer  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  said 
that  he  never  knew  a  man  above  forty  who 
could  be  got  to  believe  in  his  theory.  He 
meant  that  usually  at  that  age  a  man's  mind 
had  lost  its  flexibility  and  was  almost  imper- 
vious to  new  subjects.  Fortunately  it  is  not 
always  so,  and  sometimes  we  find  men  whose 
mental  vigour  is  continued  unimpaired.  On 
the  other  hand  men  often  plume  themselves  on 
their  intellectual  freshness,  who  have  really 
closed  their  minds  to  a  new  point  of  view. 

The  process  has  been  repeated  many  times, 
and  will  not  end  with  our  age.  Men  reach 
what  they  think  is  final  truth,  and  knowledge 
gets  put  into  neat  little  compartments.  They 
can  settle  back  in  comfort  in  a  world  which 
they  have  now  learned  to  know — when  lo,  that 
world  of  thought  lies  in  ruins  at  their  feet, 
and  they  are  homeless.  This  is  such  a  time, 
when  old  landmarks  are  being  blotted  out,  and 
old  lines  are  fading  in  the  light  of  wider  out- 
looks. Men  meet  the  experience  in  varying 
spirit  according  to  temperament  and  training. 
Some  dread  the  passage  through  the  cloud, 


14  The  New  World 

even  when  they  feel  sure  that  nothing  can  be 
lost  of  the  eternal  realities.  Some  have  so 
tied  up  the  spirit  with  an  accustomed  form 
that  they  speak  as  if  religion  is  imperilled, 
should  any  finger  touch  even  the  carved  work 
of  the  sanctuary.  Others  face  the  outlook  with 
courage  and  faith,  rejoicing  in  it  as  a  strong 
man  to  run  a  race. 

In  some  ways  the  most  pathetic  type  is  that 
of  the  defender  of  the  faith,  who  will  not 
admit  that  anything  has  happened,  and  who 
shuts  his  eyes  to  the  fact  that  we  are  living  in 
a  new  world.  He  appeals  to  authority  which 
his  opponents  reject.  He  is  a  fighter  who  is 
merely  lashing  the  air,  or  like  Don  Quixote 
running  a  tilt  against  a  windmill.  This  be- 
lated controversialist  wages  wordy  battles  over 
positions  that  have  really  been  evacuated.  A 
new  world-view  has  turned  the  flank  of  old 
problems.  The  ground  has  shifted,  and  the 
real  interest  is  elsewhere.  Some  identify  Chris- 
tianity with  doctrines  which  have  ceased  to 
mean  anything  to  the  modern  world. 

It  is  also  true  that  many  oppose  religion 
through  ignorance  of  the  movements  that  have 


The  Changing  Order         15 

happened  within  the  Church.  Some  can  be 
discovered  railing  at  theology,  when  their 
whole  knowledge  of  it  is  confined  to  what 
they  learned  at  Sunday-school  thirty  years 
ago.  They  never  go  on  the  assumption  that 
their  own  line  of  work  or  their  particular  pro- 
fession has  stood  still  all  that  time,  and  would 
resent  fiercely  if  medicine  or  surgery  or  engi- 
neering to-day  were  judged  by  the  methods  or 
results  of  thirty  years  since.  Sometimes  in  a 
football  game  three  or  four  of  the  players 
struggle  madly  in  a  corner  of  the  field  to  the 
amusement  of  the  spectators  when  the  ball  is 
not  there  at  all,  and  when  it  dawns  on  them 
that  they  are  not  in  the  game  they  rise  from 
the  mud  probably  feeling  as  silly  as  they  look. 
The  trouble  about  their  counterparts  in  the  re- 
ligious field  is  that  they  never  seem  to  realize 
that  they  are  not  "  in  the  game."  A  very  suc- 
cessful business  man  sneered  at  theology  the 
other  day  in  my  presence,  and  when  I  asked 
him  to  what  he  was  referring  he  muttered 
something  about  the  damnation  of  non-elect 
infants.  Before  such  an  exhibition  one  does 
not  know  whether  to  open  one's  eyes  very  wide 


i6  The  New  World 

or  shut  one's  mouth  very  tight.  It  is  like  ob- 
jecting to  the  modern  Church  because  of  the 
New  England  witch- trials,  or  like  objecting  to 
modern  medicine  because  an  ancient  doctor 
sometimes  tried  to  cure  a  disease  by  giving  a 
dose  so  nasty  that  he  was  sure  the  devil  would 
refuse  to  stay  in  the  same  body  with  it. 

The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  acknowledge  that 
there  has  been  change,  and  that  it  is  inevitable. 
Even  the  stalwart,  who  stands  in  the  old  paths 
and  defies  the  new,  is  himself  the  victim  of 
change.  There  is  an  immense  change  of  empha- 
sis, even  when  he  thinks  that  he  has  not  altered 
a  single  item  of  the  old  creed.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  certain  points  are  dropped  out  or  glossed 
over,  some  parts  of  the  faith  have  vanished,  and 
some  have  been  transformed.  We  can  see  this 
clearly  if  we  look  back  at  the  controversies  of 
the  past.  To-day  practically  no  one  will  at- 
tempt either  to  defend  or  to  deny  the  proofs 
for  God  and  religion  that  used  to  be  offered. 
We  neither  accept  them,  nor  refute  them,  but 
simply  ignore  them.  They  are  dead  issues,  be- 
cause the  whole  world  has  swung  away  from 


T'he  Changing  Order  17 

them.  There  is  a  modern  point  of  view,  which 
gets  its  work  in  with  all  of  us  more  or  less. 
Creeds  do  not  die  because  they  are  disproved, 
but  because  they  cease  to  interest. 

Mr.  G.  K.  Chesterton  wrote  a  book  called 
"  Heretics  "  in  which  he  criticized  many  of  the 
popular  ideas  and  philosophies  of  the  day.  He 
condemned  them  in  his  trenchant  way,  and  the 
natural  feeling  was.  Well,  if  this  is  wrong  and 
that  is  absurd,  tell  us  what  is  right.  This  natural 
demand  for  a  positive  statement  he  met  by  his 
book  "  Orthodoxy."  It  is  written  almost  like  an 
autobiography,  and  that  is  what  it  is — the  story 
of  a  man  in  his  search  for  truth,  his  essential 
experience  of  life  and  his  practical  conclusion, 
in  a  word  his  discovery  of  God.  He  tells  us 
how  he  passed  through  various  phases  of  un- 
belief, the  common  stopping  places  and  half- 
way houses  of  our  day,  how  he  found  unrest  in 
this,  contradiction  in  that,  until  he  found  satis- 
faction of  heart  and  mind  in  Christianity.  It 
is  an  interesting  experience,  and  not  uncommon. 

He  is  willing  to  put  his  theology  as  a  con- 
venient historical  summary  in  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  that  is  he  grounds  his  faith  on  history, 


i8  The  New  World 

and  sees  the  truth  in  the  old  formularies.  Un- 
fortunately, he  does  not  really  expound  that 
creed,  but  contents  himself  with  showing  why 
he  came  to  believe  it.  The  real  question  from 
the  point  of  view  of  theology  is  his  interpreta- 
tion— how  he  believes  it.  An  interesting  point 
of  the  story  is  the  surprise  of  the  discovery  that 
he  was  orthodox.  *'  I  did  try  to  find  a  heresy 
of  my  own ;  and  when  I  had  put  the  last 
touches  to  it,  I  found  that  it  was  orthodoxy." 
If  he  went  on  to  expound  his  ultimate  faith,  he 
would  probably  find  that  he  holds  the  Apostles' 
Creed  with  a  difference.  There  will  be  some 
personal  equation,  some  necessary  restatement 
in  terms  of  modern  knowledge  and  experience. 
Sometimes  the  religious  mind  deceives  itself 
as  to  the  amount  of  change  by  interpreting 
doctrines  and  forms  in  a  sacramental  and  sym- 
bolic sense.  The  true  mystic  is  indifferent  to 
historical  fact ;  for  he  values  it  only  as  rep- 
resenting something  more  important  than  itself, 
as  embodying  a  spiritual  idea.  Such  a  type  of 
mind  is  not  troubled  by  common  difficulties 
about  miracles,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the 
miracle  only  stands  for  something  to  be  under- 


The  Changing  Order         19 

stood  by  the  soul.  Shorthouse,  the  author  of 
the  famous  novel  "  John  Inglesant,"  had  much 
sympathy  with  this  point  of  view.  In  his 
paper  on  "  The  Agnostical  Church  "  he  argues 
for  the  underlying  sacramental  principles  in 
everything,  and  he  thinks  that  the  agnostic  can 
hold  that  and  be  a  churchman  and  take  com- 
munion, without  troubling  about  the  historical 
event  it  celebrates.  Since  everything  may  be 
a  sacrament  to  the  religious  mind,  the  special 
Christian  sacrament  should  be  treasured  for  its 
ideal  truth.  He  writes,  "  This  principle,  which 
underlies  all  things,  is  concentrated  in  the 
supreme  act  of  church  worship  in  a  touching 
ceremony,  where  the  most  perfect  and  benefi- 
cent creatures  of  nature,  bread  and  wine,  are 
set  forth  as  a  representative  of  what  it  is  agreed 
to  take  as  type  of  a  perfect  and  beneficent  life, 
whether  really  existent  or  not  is  in  this  aspect 
of  the  question  of  no  importance." 

Of  course  there  is  a  great  truth  in  this  for  us 
all.  We  are  united  not  by  common  opinions, 
but  by  a  common  spirit  and  a  common  purpose. 
If  we  were  always  held  down  to  the  most 
prosaic  and  literal  interpretation  of  everything, 


20  The  New  World 

there  could  be  no  union  for  any  human  purpose 
at  all.  In  a  political  party,  or  a  social  reform 
movement,  or  a  religious  organization,  no  two 
members  see  eye  to  eye  alike  in  every  detail,  or 
even  would  describe  in  the  same  terms  the  ideal 
for  which  the  party  stands.  At  the  same  time 
to  make  too  much  of  this  is  dangerous.  It  is 
surely  important  whether  an  event,  on  which 
faith  builds,  is  really  true  in  the  strict  sense  or 
not.  Man  rests  his  life  on  reality.  Disproof 
of  God,  for  example,  would  sooner  or  later — 
and  sooner  rather  than  later — make  an  end  of 
religion.  It  is  all  right  to  rest  on  spiritual 
ideals  amid  the  flux  of  this  changing  world,  so 
long  as  we  do  not  deceive  ourselves  about  the 
fact  of  the  change. 

The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  understand  the 
causes  of  unrest  in  the  religion  of  our  time,  and 
to  enforce  the  need  of  restatement,  and  if 
possible  to  indicate  the  lines  of  the  probable 
statement.  I  am  not  trying  to  prove  the  truth 
of  the  old,  nor  am  I  trying  to  present  a  system 
of  theology  in  place  of  the  old.  The  last  thing 
I  would  want  to  do  would  be  to  encourage  the 


T'he  Changing  Order         21 

desire  of  people  to  get  their  intellectual  clothes 
ready  to  wear.  The  most  I  seek  to  do  is  to 
suggest  for  a  transition  time  like  this  a  point 
of  view  that  may  enable  some  to  hold  their 
footing.  It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  spend 
a  large  part  of  the  last  few  years  among  the 
colleges  and  universities  of  America,  and  I  can 
say  at  least  that  this  point  of  view  has  helped 
many  over  a  dangerous  time  of  unsettlement  of 
conviction. 

That  there  is  great  unsettlement  of  convic- 
tion we  must  confess.  Thomas  Paine  begins 
"  The  Crisis  "  with  words  that  became  a  battle- 
cry  in  America,  "  These  are  the  times  that  try 
men's  souls,"  and  the  words  apply  to-day.  No 
one  can  know  the  modern  religious  world 
without  feeling,  however  vaguely,  the  unrest. 
The  modern  world  is  racked  with  self-analysis, 
and  the  result  is  a  deep  disquiet.  We  do  not 
know  where  we  stand.  Many  brought  up  in 
the  old  traditional  orthodoxy  and  maintaining 
it  in  form,  have  an  uneasy  feeling.  Even 
where  they  retain  the  old  forms  and  phrases, 
they  know  deep  down  in  their  hearts  that  it 
must  be  with  a  difference,  realizing  that  the 


22 


The  New  World 


words  need  at  least  new  interpretation  to  make 
them  true  and  real.  Others  feel  as  if  the  bot- 
tom had  fallen  out  of  their  intellectual  world, 
and  being  of  more  radical  temper  than  others 
have  cast  away  the  old  phrases  altogether,  and 
sometimes  have  "  thrown  out  the  baby  with  the 
bath "  !  Others  are  the  open  prey  of  all  fads 
and  movements,  new  religions  and  the  revival 
of  old  superstitions.  Man's  religious  nature 
demands  satisfaction,  and  everywhere  we  see 
the  pathetic  spectacle  which  moved  Paul  on 
Mars  Hill  of  men  erecting  an  altar  to  the  Un- 
known God. 

There  are  elements  in  the  situation  that 
make  for  comfort  and  for  courage.  Amid  the 
change  of  the  old  order  we  are  inclined  to  lose 
perspective.  With  the  many  things  that  seem 
to  be  shaken,  we  forget  that  there  are  things 
that  remain.  Human  nature  stays  pretty  con- 
stant, and  the  needs  of  life  do  not  alter.  It 
may  be  we  take  too  serious  a  tone  about  what 
we  call  our  problems.  Every  age  is  faced  with 
problems  of  some  sort,  and  manages  to  get 
through  them  in  some  way,  even  if  we  con- 
clude that  often  it  only  muddles  through  them. 


The  Changing  Order         23 

The  world's  past  in  religion  cannot  go  for 
nothing,  any  more  than  in  other  regions  of 
life.  There  is  always  an  element  of  perma- 
nence in  all  transition.  It  is  only  a  temptation 
of  youth  to  think  that  we  can  start  fresh,  and 
shake  off  all  the  burden  and  the  glory  of  the 
past.  The  modern  man  is  not  a  new  and  orig- 
inal creation.  Fortunately  there  is  a  lot  of  the 
old  man  in  him — and  some  of  the  old  woman. 
The  fundamental  needs  of  life  are  the  same. 
We  can  afford  to  face  our  present  and  our 
future  with  courage  and  with  faith. 

1.  The  first  great  fact  to  keep  hold  of  is 
that  religion  is  of  the  very  nature  of  man.  It 
is  not  anything  alien  to  him,  or  something 
even  forced  on  him  except  by  the  necessities 
of  his  social  life.  The  time  has  passed  when 
it  can  be  easily  explained  as  the  invention  of 
priests,  as  some  shallow  thinkers  used  to  de- 
clare. That  is  surely  to  put  the  cart  before 
the  horse.  Priests  do  not  create  religion,  but 
religion  created  the  priests.  Men  are  religious 
by  nature,  as  they  are  rational  and  aesthetic 
by  nature.    It  does  not  mean  that  they  are 


24  T^he  New  World 

always  religious  or  all  alike  religious,  any  more 
than  they  are  always  all  alike  rational.  When 
we  call  man  aesthetic,  we  do  not  mean  that 
all  men  are  born  artists,  though  we  may  be- 
lieve that  all  have  some  share  of  the  faculty 
and  that  with  most  of  us  the  poet  in  us  dies 
young.  When  we  call  man  religious,  we  mean 
that  religion  has  its  source  in  human  nature 
and  in  human  life.  That  is  the  explanation 
why  religion  is  universal.  Even  if  somewhere, 
some  time,  a  tribe  of  savages  were  to  be  found 
without  religion,  it  w^ould  only  mean  that  a 
group  were  so  far  below  the  level  of  man,  so 
inhuman,  that  they  had  no  religion.  Herbert 
Spencer  with  his  candid  mind,  speaking  of  the 
universality  of  the  religious  feeling,  says,  "  We 
are  obliged  to  admit  that  it  is  as  normal  as  any 
other  faculty." 

All  history  declares  that  only  two  things 
eternally  interest  man,  two  subjects  that  never 
fail.  Poets  have  said  that  these  two  things 
are  Love  and  War,  but  in  this  they  have  taken 
the  part  for  the  w^hole.  Of  the  two  perennial 
subjects  the  first  is  economic,  and  the  other  is 
religious.     The  history  of  man  is  the  history 


The  Changing  Order         25 

of  Economics  and  Eeligion — the  physical  basis 
of  life,  and  the  spiritual  motive  of  life.  Men 
have  always  had  to  struggle  for  the  where- 
withal to  live,  and  have  always  been  interested 
in  finding  out  why  it  was  worth  while  to  live 
at  all.  We  need  never  be  afraid  that  men  will 
lose  their  interest  in  either  of  these  subjects. 

Some  superior  moralists  speak  in  contempt 
of  bread  and  butter  schemes,  and  of  what  they 
call  the  gospel  of  the  dinner  pail.  They  berate 
the  ordinary  man,  because  so  much  of  his  life 
and  thought  are  given  to  the  means  of  living. 
They  denounce  modern  politics  because  so 
much  of  it  is  economic,  because  the  ideals  of 
the  ordinary  man  are  for  a  fairer  distribution 
of  the  material  fruits  of  labour.  But  every- 
thing in  life,  even  religion,  is  dependent  on  the 
economic  state.  The  superior  moralist  needs 
some  substitute  for  the  dinner  pail  before  his 
ethics  are  possible. 

On  the  other  hand  some  have  thought  that 
the  way  of  progress  is  to  ban  the  whole  subject 
of  religion,  to  give  up  the  long  passion  of  the 
saints  and  be  content  to  live  on  a  lower  plane. 
It  is  as  futile  as  the  other  attempt.    Man,  to 


26  T^he  New  World 

remain  man,  cannot  live  by  bread  alone.  How- 
ever we  may  attempt  to  explain  religion,  it  is 
rooted  in  the  nature  of  man  and  nourished  by 
the  life  of  man.  With  capacities  above  all  op- 
portunity for  full  satisfaction;  with  deeps  in 
our  nature  revealed  now  and  again  in  flashes 
even  to  the  shallowest ;  with  powers  abortive, 
and  instincts  starved,  and  attributes  that  never 
reach  maturity,  with  visions  that  elude  us  and 
mock  us;  with  life  that  confines  us  and  yet 
taunts  us  with  something  ever  beyond — we 
cannot  escape  the  doom  of  man  which  makes 
him  incurably  religious. 

If  religion  is  of  a  man's  nature,  we  need  not 
fear  for  its  future,  still  less  fear  that  it  is  not 
going  to  have  a  future.  There  will  be  condi- 
tions that  for  the  time  seem  to  menace  it,  and 
conditions  that  tend  to  maim  or  hinder  it,  but 
the  absolutely  worst  condition  it  has  to  meet  is 
the  temper  of  men  who  refuse  to  let  it  change. 
Precisely  because  religion  is  of  man's  nature,  it 
cannot  remain  unchanged.  That  would  be  to 
doom  it  to  death.  We  believe  that  knowledge 
and  art  will  not  pass  from  the  earth,  though 
we  recognize  mental  conditions  and  social  con- 


The  Changing  Order         27 

ditions  that  discourage  and  hamper  them.  Ke- 
ligion  is  one,  as  knowledge  and  art  are  each 
one,  with  many  broken  arcs  to  find  a  place  one 
day  in  the  perfect  round.  The  institutions  that 
religion  creates  will,  and  must,  alter.  The  prac- 
tical organization  of  religion  in  forms  like  the 
Church  will  change.  The  intellectual  embodi- 
ment of  religion  in  a  creed  must  be  amended  to 
suit  every  access  of  new  knowledge.  These 
may  change  and  pass,  and  we  sometimes 
tremble  as  if  for  the  very  Ark  of  God  when 
change  they  must.  But  religion  itself  cannot 
die,  till  the  soul  of  man  dies.  If  religion  is 
made  by  the  actual  forces  that  make  man,  its 
reign  is  secure.  The  days  of  its  power  are  not 
ended,  if  we  had  eyes  to  see  and  hearts  to  un- 
derstand. 

2.  A  second  reason  for  courage  in  facing 
the  changing  order  is  that  it  has  not  come  on 
us  as  a  cataclysm,  but  as  an  orderly  movement. 
It  gives  us  time  to  adjust  ourselves.  We  speak 
grandiosely  about  this  age  of  transition.  That 
is  a  true  enough  description,  but  there  is  noth- 
ing theatrical  about  the  change  of  scenes.    The 


28  The  New  World 


world  is  always  passing  through  transition,  and 
is  wonderfully  patient  with  its  children  in  giv- 
ing time  to  let  thino^s  soak  in.  JN'o  doubt  there 
are  times  of  sharp  crisis  when  the  soul  of  man 
seems  wandering  between  two  worlds,  one 
dead,  the  other  powerless  to  be  born.  But 
usually  change  is  gradual.  Even  when  it  looks 
sudden,  as  in  a  French  Eevolution,  it  really 
had  been  prepared  for  long,  and  the  sudden 
crisis  is  the  climax  of  a  slow  process.  Our  new 
world-view  is  largely  the  result  of  modern 
astronomy  and  modern  biology,  but  the  revo- 
lutionary discoveries  which  make  the  points  of 
departure  for  these  two  sciences  are  not  so  des- 
perately modern.  For  one  we  have  got  to  go 
back  at  least  as  far  as  Newton.  It  has  taken 
more  than  two  centuries  for  the  truth  to  filter 
through.  It  is  a  good  many  decades  since 
Darwin  published  the  "  Origin  of  Species,"  and 
we  are  only  applying  the  principle  of  evolution 
now. 

Indeed,  to  the  eager  believer  in  progress  the 
change  seems  disappointingly  slow,  and  he  is 
impatient  at  the  tardy  rate  at  which  the  world 
appropriates  the  gains  of  knowledge.     In  spite 


The  Changing  Order         29 

of  the  Coper nican  astronomy  the  minds  of 
many  are  still  geocentric.  In  thought  they 
live  in  a  world  which  is  the  centre  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  not  a  planet  which  is  as  a  speck  in 
the  vastness  of  infinity.  We  have  not  com- 
pletely adjusted  ourselves  to  the  new  universe, 
and  above  all  we  have  not  accepted  the  mani- 
fold implications.  In  the  same  way  the 
thought  of  evolution  dominates  all  our  theories 
and  methods  in  every  region  of  knowledge,  but 
we  have  not  submitted  to  the  logical  conclu- 
sions. The  old-world  view  still  lingers,  not 
only  in  the  speech  and  thinking  of  the  masses, 
but  in  the  philosophy  and  theology  and  ethics 
of  the  learned.  The  creeds  by  which  we  ex- 
press our  religious  beliefs  date  from  a  time 
when  a  comet  or  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  were 
supposed  to  presage  calamity.  We  still  use 
language  in  prayer  and  praise  that  does  not 
agree  with  what  we  know  of  the  world.  But 
slowly  and  surely  the  traditional  history  and 
theology  have  been  undermined.  Ever  more 
minds  are  hospitable  to  the  modern  views  of 
nature.  Some  of  our  present  acute  distress  is 
because  the  process  has  been  hurried  a  little  to- 


30  T^he  New  World 

day  by  a  succession  of  scientific  discoveries  and 
by  the  increase  of  technical  skill.  The  rate  has 
been  somewhat  accelerated. 

Men  have  not  yet  had  time  to  relate  the 
movements  in  the  various  departments  of 
knowledge  so  as  to  get  a  consistent  view  of 
the  whole  field  of  thought,  but  there  are  cer- 
tain presuppositions  which  are  acting  every- 
where. They  are  like  leaven  leavening  the 
whole  lump.  Presuppositions  like  the  uni- 
formity of  nature  and  the  law  of  continuity 
are  accepted  and  used  by  men  in  every  branch 
of  investigation.  The  results  of  sciences  like 
geology  are  gradually  being  absorbed.  Most 
educated  men  no  longer  deny  the  great  age  of 
the  world,  the  comparative  antiquity  of  man, 
and  the  fact  that  death  is  not  a  punishment  but 
a  law.  Bit  by  bit  new  knowledge  is  accepted, 
and  our  view  of  the  whole  gets  stretched  to 
take  in  each  fresh  proved  addition.  All  the 
knowledge  from  different  quarters  has  not  been 
digested  and  assimilated,  and  no  wonder  if 
men  ask  if  it  is  all  going  to  agree.  No  wonder 
the  questions  arise.  If  men  accept  the  mod- 
ern view  of  the  world,  can  they  still  be  Chris- 


The  Changing  Order         31 

tians?  Has  anything  happened  to  affect  the 
essential  truth  of  Christianity  ?  Is  the  old  Gos- 
pel capable  of  being  for  our  age  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation  ? 

3.  A  third  comforting  reflection  is  that  our 
age  is  not  unique  in  its  experience  of  a  chang- 
ing order.  There  are  some  historical  analo- 
gies, with  many  points  of  resemblance  to  our 
own  age.  We  can  find  times  with  the  same 
seemingly  sudden  breakdown  of  the  standards 
and  sanctions  of  life.  We  see  a  similar  critical 
process  laying  the  old  order  in  ruins.  We  see 
the  same  confusion  both  of  thought  and  of 
morals.  Even  the  same  types  of  men  are  re- 
produced— some  cynical,  some  sceptical,  some 
despairing.  A  part  of  the  population  turn  to 
the  easy  creed,  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to- 
morrow we  die.  We  see  some  rich  wallow  in 
stupid  luxury,  and  some  poor  ready  to  bury 
discontent  if  there  is  only  enough  "  bread  and 
games."  We  see  social  unrest  going  hand  in 
hand  with  intellectual  and  moral  confusion. 
We  see  violent  reactions  and  frantic  attempts 
to  revivify  the  dying  faith.     And  ever  some 


32  "The  New  World 

noble  souls,  who  see  not  the  new  vision,  live 
out  their  life  in  stern  adherence  to  duty.  We 
see  also  how  the  world  won  out  to  a  new  life 
through  those  whose  eyes  were  filled  with  the 
glory  of  the  dawning  day  and  whose  hearts 
met  it  with  joyful  courage. 

In  many  respects  there  is  a  close  analogy 
found  in  the  world  at  the  time  of  Jesus.  Chris- 
tianity got  its  opportunity  in  the  great  world 
through  the  collapse  of  the  old  order.  The 
need  for  some  new  power  to  restore  the  soul 
in  man  and  to  regenerate  society  is  well  seen 
from  the  Dialogues  of  Lucian.  He  lived  at  the 
breakdown  of  the  Greek  civilization,  when  the 
standards  of  social  life  were  lost  and  the  old 
religion  was  a  spent  force.  I  take  Lucian  as 
illustration  because  he  reveals  the  situation  all 
the  more  vividly  that  he  was  not  a  Greek. 
Picture  a  young  barbarian,  fired  with  enthusi- 
asm for  Greek  life,  dreaming  of  it,  working  for 
it— and  finding  out  what  it  was  at  heart.  This 
gives  a  sting  to  his  description,  that  he  lived  to 
despise  what  he  had  once  thought  the  ideal.  A 
man  who  knew  that  the  old  had  broken  down, 
and  had  nothing  to  replace  it,  naturally  seems 


"The  Changing  Order         33 

a  cynic,  or  to  one  of  Lucian's  temperament  a 
satirist.  Many  men  of  intellect  to-day  are 
showing  the  same  spirit. 

All  his  work  was  critical,  destructive,  the 
proud  and  bitter  disdain  of  a  wounded  soul. 
He  poured  his  acid  into  society,  especially  the 
religion  of  the  time.  In  his  "  Dialogues  of  the 
Gods  "  he  does  his  most  effective  criticism  by 
putting  the  poetry  of  the  old  religion  into 
prose,  making  people  laugh  by  showing  how 
childish  it  is.  Lucian  withers  all  claims,  par- 
ticularly the  intellectual  classes  like  the  Khet- 
oricians  and  Philosophers.  In  "  Timon "  he 
makes  Zeus  ask  Hermes  who  that  squalid  fel- 
low down  there  is  using  his  tongue  so  loudly. 
"  He  must  be  a  philosopher  to  judge  from  his 
fluent  blasphemy."  He  was  the  typical  ration- 
alist of  his  age,  bringing  everything  also  within 
the  range  of  his  mordant  wit.  When  Hermo- 
tinus  says  "You  will  not  accept  anything  I 
say,"  he  replies,  "On  the  contrary  it  is  you 
who  will  not  say  anything  I  can  accept." 

At  the  time  when  Lucian  was  writing,  Chris- 
tianity was  beginning  to  sweep  the  w^orld  with 
its  new  message  of  God  and  of  man.    It  rescued 


34  The  New  World 

that  ancient  world  from  moral  confusion,  and 
saved  it  from  intellectual  despair.  It  revived 
the  spirit  of  man,  giving  life  a  new  hope  and  a 
new  motive.  It  planted  new  ambitions  in  the 
hearts  of  men,  and  filled  them  with  a  strange 
peace.  Society,  which  was  breaking  down, 
was  renewed.  It  transformed  the  face  of  the 
world. 

A  better  analogy  still  is  the  world  "before  the 
Reformation  /  for,  as  now,  it  was  a  crisis  in  the 
life  of  Christianity  itself.  Here  again  perhaps 
the  best  single  source  for  a  view  of  the  unsettle- 
ment  of  conviction  is  found  in  a  book  also 
called  Dialogues.  In  it,  and  in  "  Praise  of  Folly," 
Erasmus  pours  his  satire  on  the  state  of  affairs. 
The  Renaissance  and  the  Reformation  were 
preceded  by  criticism.  Erasmus  was  a  true 
rationalist  in  principle,  making  his  appeal  to 
common  sense,  withering  superstition  by  the 
sanity  of  light.  True,  he  only  barked  when 
Luther  fastened  his  teeth,  but  men  like  Erasmus 
made  the  work  of  Luther  possible. 

The  unrest  of  Reformation  times  was  due 
intellectually  to  new  discoveries  which  widened 
knowledge,  and  to  new  scholarship,  including 


The  Changing  Order         35 

Biblical.  In  these  respects  the  age  resembled 
ours.  The  solution  then  reached  by  the  Prot- 
estant world  was,  however,  only  a  makeshift. 
It  was  a  change  of  authority  from  Church  to 
Bible.  That  kept  the  world  going  for  some 
time.  But  criticism  to-day  is  more  radical  still, 
and  investigates  all  authority.  It  has  put  the 
Bible  also  into  the  melting-pot.  Whither  are 
we  sailing  ?     On  what  uncharted  seas  ? 

From  history  we  see  that  when  an  old  religion 
died,  it  was  always  replaced  by  a  new  one. 
There  is  no  religion  at  the  bar  of  the  world's 
judgment  to-day  but  Christianity.  We  can 
only  look  to  the  transformation  of  Christianity 
itself  to  save  the  world.  Is  it  adequate  for 
the  task  ?  What  part  of  the  cargo  must  be 
jettisoned  ? 


II 

The  Forces  of  Unrest 


It  may  reasonably  be  maintained  that  few  greater 
calamities  can  befall  a  nation  than  the  severance  of 
its  higher  intelligence  from  religious  influence. 

— Lecky, 


n 


THE  FORCES  OF  UNREST 


HILE  we  recognize  that  we  are 
in  the  midst  of  a  changing 
order,  we  are  in  danger  of 
exaggerating  it  sometimes. 
There  is  a  proverb  which  says 
that  we  never  eat  our  soup  quite  as  hot  as  it  is 
served  to  us.  Those  who  purvey  our  intellec- 
tual food  often  give  us  it  piping  hot,  and  it  is 
wise  to  let  it  cool  off  a  bit.  There  are  other 
forms  of  sensationalism  than  that  of  the  press 
and  the  theatre.  Some  change  is  only  breath- 
lessness,  and  some  movement  is  not  even  change. 
There  is  a  passage  in  "  Alice  Through  the  Look- 
ing-Glass  "  which  comes  to  mind  when  one  tries 
to  follow  the  flights  of  some  prophets  of  change. 
"  Alice  never  could  quite  make  out,  in  thinking 
it  over  afterwards,  how  it  was  that  they  began : 
all  she  remembers  is  that  they  were  running 
hand  in  hand,  and  the  Queen  went  so  fast  that 
it  was  all  she  could  do  to  keep  up  with  her ; 

39 


40  The  New  World 

and  still  the  Queen  kept  crying,  '  Faster ! '  but 
Alice  felt  she  could  not  go  faster,  though  she 
had  no  breath  to  say  so.  The  most  curious 
part  of  the  thing  was  that  the  trees  and  the 
other  things  round  them  never  changed  their 
places  at  all;  however  fast  they  went,  they 
never  seemed  to  pass  anything.  ...  *  Are 
we  nearly  there  ? '  Alice  managed  to  pant  out 
at  last.  ^  ISTearly  there ! '  the  Queen  repeated. 
^  Why,  we  passed  it  ten  minutes  ago !  Faster ! ' " 
Kot  only  is  some  of  our  motion  not  progress, 
but  also  some  of  our  progress,  if  not  all  of  it,  is 
accompanied  with  moral  danger.  When  old 
standards  are  let  go,  men  lose  their  moral  bear- 
ings and  many  a  wrecked  life  is  the  result. 
This  is  the  real  menace  of  our  time.  There  is 
a  breakdown  of  the  ordinary  root-virtues  by 
which  humanity  subsists.  Society  will  go  to 
pieces  without  the  ancient  bonds.  This  neces- 
sity explains  the  amusing  spectacle  we  some- 
times come  across  to-day  of  men  rediscovering 
the  Ten  Commandments,  and  loudly  asserting 
their  value  for  the  world.  Offenses  against  the 
purity  of  the  family  or  against  the  sanctity  of 
human    life    disintegrate   society.      Whatever 


"The  Forces  of  Unrest         41 

happens  to  creeds  and  churches,  life  cannot  go 
on  without  a  moral  foundation.  It  will  always 
remain  true  that  men  must  not  steal  or  bear 
false  witness,  if  we  are  even  to  do  business  with 
each  other.  We  ought  to  recognize  the  moral 
danger  of  a  time  of  unsettlement  of  conviction, 
and  hasten  to  put  life  on  a  foundation  that  can- 
not be  shaken. 

I  am  specially  impressed  with  this  from  my 
contact  with  so  many  students  in  the  universi- 
ties. The  breakdown  of  faith  is  not  confined 
to  any  section  or  Church.  Take  these  sample 
illustrations,  which  perhaps  better  visualize  the 
situation  than  any  amount  of  general  statement. 
In  one  university  a  young  man  came  to  me  and 
after  introducing  himself  said,  "  I  am  a  Jew  by 
blood  but  not  by  faith.  My  parents  belong  to 
an  Ethical  Culture  Society,  but  there  is  nothing 
in  it  for  me.  As  far  as  I  am  concerned  I  could 
go  back  to  my  room  and  blow  my  brains  out. 
I  have  nothing  to  hold  to." 

In  another  university  a  student  told  me  he 
had  been  brought  up  a  Roman  Catholic.  I 
gathered  that  he  was  of  a  pious  family,  and  he 
had  put  off  his  break  with  the  Church  for  fear 


42  The  New  World 

of  wounding  those  he  loved,  including  the 
priest  for  whom  he  had  a  high  regard.  But 
the  break  had  come  at  last.  He  could  no 
longer  assent  to  the  dogmas  with  which  he  had 
associated  Christianity.  He  was  desolate  in 
spirit,  and  as  he  described  it  he  felt  that  he  was 
on  sinking  sand  without  foundation  for  his  life. 

In  a  state  university  a  young  woman 
student,  of  Puritan  ancestry,  came  in  similar 
distress.  Brought  up  in  a  Protestant  Church, 
she  too  had  given  up  the  dogmas  with  which 
Christianity  had  been  associated.  She  de- 
clared she  had  nowhere  to  stand.  Nothing 
was  certain  to  her  any  more — no  kind  of 
authority.  There  seemed  no  validity  even  in 
the  moral  principles  of  the  early  training,  no 
reason  why  she  should  believe  anything  right. 

I  could  duplicate  these  instances  a  hundred 
times.  These  three  cases  stand  out  in  my 
memory  because  of  the  vivid  remark  each 
happened  to  make  in  describing  the  state  of 
uncertainty,  and  the  poignant  cry  of  moral  dis- 
tress "  I  have  nothing  to  hold  to  " — "  I  am  on 
sinking  sand  " — "  I  have  nowhere  to  stand." 
They  were  not  referring  to  merely  intellectual 


T*he  Forces  of  Unrest         43 

problems,  as  I  found,  but  in  each  case  to  a 
great  moral  problem.  The  moral  difficulty 
arose  from  the  intellectual  unsettlement.  It  is 
because  I  know  bow  wide-spread  this  is  with 
the  educated  youth  that  I  would  fain  say  some- 
thing to  establish  and  strengthen.  Something 
is  done  even  if  some  know  that  they  are  under- 
stood with  sympathy. 

Some  churches  attribute  all  this  to  the 
atmosphere  of  our  universities,  and  think  to 
conserve  something  by  little  ecclesiastical  pre- 
serves in  education.  It  is  a  vain  hope  ;  for  the 
spirit  of  the  age  creeps  into  the  preserves. 
Sometimes  the  relapse  afterwards  is  far  more 
calamitous  when  the  students  leave  the  protect- 
ing ecclesiastical  atmosphere.  Besides,  the 
forces  of  unrest  are  everywhere,  acting  inces- 
santly in  the  wide  world  of  human  life.  What 
the  universities  think  to-day  the  world  thinks 
to-morrow. 

I  recognize  frankly  that  it  is  not  all  an  intel- 
lectual problem.  If  we  could  state  religious 
faith  in  completely  modern  terms  and  could 
adjust  every  difficulty  to  reason,  it  would  not 
mean  that  religion  could  go  in  and  possess  the 


44  7/J^  New  World 

land.  The  task  of  religion  is  not  so  easy  as 
that.  The  great  necessities  of  life  lie  in  an- 
other region.  The  real  problems  that  trouble 
us  to  our  heart  are  not  speculative  at  all,  but 
practical.  These  are,  how  to  live  even  up  to 
the  light  we  have ;  how  to  meet  sorrow,  temp- 
tation, death ;  how  to  find  a  remedy  for  some 
of  the  world's  woes ;  how  to  deal  with  sin  in 
self  and  in  others.  These  ancient  words  are 
still  the  modern  realities.  By  comparison  the 
intellectual  confusion  is  only  on  the  surface  of 
life.  At  the  same  time  the  intellectual  confu- 
sion exists,  and  to  many  is  the  cause  of  some 
moral  confusion  and  of  some  spiritual  distress. 

In  attempting  to  name  the  important  ele- 
ments of  our  o\\Ti  time  it  is  natural  for  us  to  be 
humble  and  a  little  suspicious  of  our  success. 
Contemporary  historians  have  usually  been 
wrong  in  their  estimate  about  the  things  in 
their  age  that  were  of  account.  They  make 
much  of  the  men  and  the  events  that  were  in 
the  spotlight,  and  neglect  the  forces  which  we 
see  afterwards  were  really  dominant  in  shaping 
history.     Political  intrigues,  military  schemes. 


The  Forces  of  Unrest         45 

moves  on  the  diplomatic  chess-board,  the  things 
generally  that  make  a  splash — these  easily  at- 
tract attention.  It  may  be  that  the  things  in 
our  analysis  to-day  which  seem  to  us  the  most 
prominent  are  of  secondary  importance  com- 
pared to  some  insignificant  movement  which 
will  control  the  future.  The  history  of  the 
world  is  the  history  of  man's  conscience,  per- 
sonal and  social,  not  the  history  of  his  material 
achievements,  which  end  in  the  scrap-heap.  It 
is  the  history  of  ideas  and  ideals  embodying 
themselves  in  the  complete  life.  We  are,  how- 
ever, in  this  analysis  saved  from  some  danger 
of  mistaken  judgment  by  the  fact  that  we  are 
asking  about  forces  in  our  midst  and  not  about 
men  or  events. 

There  are  certain  broad  characteristics  of  our 
age  which  make  it  peculiar.  There  are  certain 
forces  which  are  ceaselessly  playing  on  modern 
life,  and  which  may  be  said  to  be  creating  our 
new  world.  They  are  forces  that  make  for 
change,  and  therefore  produce  unrest.  One  is 
the  critical  movement,  which  began  with  in 
vestigating  our  ancient  literature  and  tradi- 
tional history,  and  has  gone  on  to  question  all 


46  The  New  W^orld 

authority.  The  new  criticism  refuses  to  be 
warned  off  any  ground,  and  applies  its  acid  to 
every  institution  of  man.  It  is  creating  a  new 
self-consciousness.  The  second  is  the  scientific 
movement,  which  has  done  so  much  for  prac- 
tical life.  The  new  science,  however,  is  not 
content  with  practical  triumphs,  but  pushes  its 
method  as  the  test  of  all  truth.  It  has  given 
to  man  a  new  world-view.  The  third  is  the 
democratic  movement,  which  is  changing  so- 
ciety over  the  whole  civilized  world.  The  new 
democracy  is  not  only  making  new  conditions 
of  life,  but  is  invading  the  region  of  theory  and 
making  new  conditions  of  thought.  It  has 
produced  a  new  social  conception.  Theology, 
which  is  our  intellectual  statement  of  religion, 
is  bound  to  be  coloured  by  our  method  of  think- 
ing and  by  the  background  of  thought. 

1.  The  New  Criticism.  It  may  be  said  that 
critical  methods  do  not  differ,  or  ought  not  to 
differ,  from  scientific  methods.  But  there  was 
criticism  before  our  modern  scientific  methods 
were  formulated.  For  example,  literary  crit- 
icism was  creating  a  problem  for  religion  long 


The  Forces  of  Unrest         47 

ago,  and  would  have  pressed  the  problem  if 
natural  science  had  never  been.  The  division 
therefore  is  worth  making  for  convenience'  sake, 
as  we  are  compelled  to  consider  how  the  Bible 
has  been  affected  by  criticism.  Any  change 
there  at  once  creates  a  change  in  theology.  Of 
course  criticism  of  one  sort  or  another  is  as  old 
as  man,  but  it  has  always  hitherto  been  exer- 
cised within  certain  limits.  Modern  criticism 
may  well  be  called  new,  because  of  its  radical 
nature  and  its  breadth  of  application.  Nothing 
escapes  it.  Law  does  not  escape  because  of  its 
authority,  nor  does  religion  because  of  its  sa- 
credness.  It  leaves  its  mark  on  everything  and 
its  mark  is  a  great  Mark  of  Interrogation.  Into 
the  melting-pot  has  gone  Bible  and  creeds,  and 
also  institutions  which  to  our  fathers  were 
counted  fixed  forever,  beyond  the  reach  even 
of  criticism. 

Applied  as  it  is  not  only  to  records  and  tradi- 
tions, but  also  to  the  very  basis  of  society  itself 
to  every  form  of  authority,  its  first  result  is  a 
tremendous  unsettlement.  We  feel  as  if  life  is 
built  on  sinking  sand.  Customs,  social  institu- 
tions, law,  and  order  are  asked  to  justify  them- 


48  T'he  New  If^orld 

selves,  to  show  reason  for  existence,  or  at  least 
why  they  are  as  they  are.  All  modern 
methods  of  education  begin  with  historical  in- 
vestigation and  criticism,  and  at  first  it  brings 
the  settled  fabric  down  about  the  ears  of  the 
student.  Take  as  illustration  7na7'riage,  whose 
fixed  character  and  sanctity  were  unquestioned 
and  established.  Every  one,  who  knows  modern 
literature  in  books  and  magazines,  knows  how 
fiercely  the  critical  light  is  beating  on  it  to-day, 
and  to  what  ^veird  conclusions  some  unsettled 
mortals  are  coming  about  it.  Of  course  this 
critical  process  does  not  mean  that  everything 
w^hen  tested  is  found  w^anting.  We  will  find 
validity  in  law,  and  in  institutions  like  mar- 
riage. We  will  find  a  place  for  the  Church,  and 
for  creeds.  But  nothing  is  taken  for  granted 
and  has  to  "  make  good."  Change  of  some  sort 
is  inevitable. 

Thus,  religion  is  not  alone  in  having  to  meet 
criticism.  In  some  respects  the  keenest  criti- 
cism is  directed  to  other  spheres,  partly  because 
some  of  its  demands  have  already  been  met  by 
religion.  The  world  has  escaped  from  some 
of  the  theological  dogmas  that  afilicted  it.     It 


The  Forces  of  Unrest         49 

is  still  in  the  grip  of  political  and  economic 
dogmas.  The  chief  critical  work  now  to  be 
done  is  to  reexamine  and  test  some  of  these — 
and  discard  them.  Some  of  the  sacred  formulae 
of  the  past  about  business,  about  government, 
about  the  nature  of  law,  about  social  conditions, 
are  to-day  in  the  crucible  to  find  if  there  is  any 
base  metal  in  them.  Modern  politics  has 
changed  its  character,  and  deals  with  a  whole 
set  of  new  questions.  Economic  dogmas  on 
supply  and  demand,  on  competition,  on  the 
rights  of  property,  are  being  examined  on  all 
hands.  Men  are  asking  even  more  fundamental 
questions  still  about  law,  its  origin  and  its 
authority. 

The  critical  spirit  is  creating  for  man  a  new 
self -consciousness.  He  is  trying  to  find  himself. 
Psychology  works  patiently  to  discover  the 
nature  and  the  laws  of  mind.  Sociology  seeks 
to  relate  the  individual  to  the  larger  life  of 
society.  All  this  is  bound  to  affect  theology. 
It  too  is  questioned  and  is  forced  to  question  it- 
self. The  traditional  theology  was  stated  when 
a  different  view  of  man  was  current.  Man  was 
viewed  as  a  being  created  in  innocence,  who 


50  T'he  New  World 

fell  from  his  first  estate.  All  subsequent  gen- 
erations suffered  from  his  sin,  and  became 
wholly  defiled  in  all  the  faculties  and  parts  of 
soul  and  body.  Ideas  like  that  of  original  cor- 
ruption and  total  depravity  seem  foreign  to  the 
modern  mind,  though  it  too  acknowledges  the 
facts  on  which  these  doctrines  are  based.  It 
would  state  the  facts  differently,  and  would  find 
a  vastly  different  explanation.  The  new  self- 
consciousness  is  not  that  of  a  worm  of  the  earth 
"  utterly  indisposed,  disabled,  and  made  op- 
posite to  all  good  and  wholly  inclined  to  all 
evil."  Man  looks  on  himself  as  risen,  and  ris- 
ing, from  lower  estates,  and  sees  himself  as  the 
heir  of  the  ages,  to  whom  it  is  given  to  master 
the  world  and  bend  it  to  his  ends. 

2.  The  New  Science.  Here  also,  science  is 
old,  even  in  the  modern  sense  of  physical 
knowledge.  The  stream  was  dammed  up  for 
centuries,  but  its  source  lies  back  in  ancient 
Greece  with  the  work  of  men  who  investigated 
and  speculated  on  the  natural  world.  Their 
work  on  geometry  and  arithmetic  was  per- 
manent, and  they  laid  the  foundations  of  medi- 


The  Forces  of  Unrest         51 

cine  and  astronomy.  Even  our  modern  science 
is  more  than  three  centuries  old,  with  names  in 
its  honour  roll  like  Copernicus,  and  Kepler,  and 
Galileo.  We  may,  however,  speak  of  the  new 
science  of  to-day,  because  of  the  amazing  fruits 
that  have  been  plucked  from  the  tree  of  knowl- 
edge. The  forces  of  nature  have  been  harnessed 
to  the  use  of  man,  and  the  world  is  full  of  the 
practical  triumphs  of  science.  But  far  more  ef- 
fective of  change  is  the  influence  of  scientific 
method.  It  is  advanced  as  the  one  instrument 
by  which  men  find  truth  in  every  region.  It  is 
opposed  to  the  dogmatic  method  which  prac- 
tically says  that  if  the  facts  do  not  fit  the 
theory,  so  much  the  worse  for  the  facts. 
Science  begins  with  facts,  and  ends  by  bringing 
its  theories  to  the  test  of  facts. 

There  has  been  slowly  growing  a  new  con- 
ception of  nature,  and  we  hardly  realize  how 
vast  has  been  the  change.  Modern  geology 
and  kindred  sciences  have  altered  our  views  of 
the  earth  on  which  we  live,  and  altered  our 
view  of  the  past  history  of  the  world  of  man. 
We  accept  the  great  age  of  the  earth,  which  at 
first   was  thought  to  be  in  conflict  with  the 


52  The  New  World 

early  chapters  of  Genesis.  With  it  has  come 
the  comparatively  long  age  of  man,  drawn 
from  such  things  as  the  discovery  of  imple- 
ments of  different  periods  in  geologic  strata. 
Modern  astronomy  has  changed  the  whole 
view  of  the  universe,  not  merely  in  altering  its 
centre  from  the  earth,  which  is  now  an  old 
story.  We  can  no  longer  think  of  the  solar 
system  as  a  kind  of  machine  wound  up  and  set 
a-going,  to  be  as  suddenly  one  day  dissolved 
by  the  Creator.  To  the  ancient  Psalmist  the 
world  was  like  a  three-story  building,  with 
the  Earth  the  middle  story,  below  it  Sheol  the 
shadowy  abode  of  the  dead,  and  above  it 
Heaven  set  in  floods  above  the  arch  of  the  sky. 
Modern  biology  adds  to  the  change  with  its 
master-key  of  evolution  to  unlock  many  doors. 
Man  has  learned  to  look  back  over  the  long 
way  by  which  the  race  has  come,  and  sees 
unity  of  progress  in  the  mystery  of  life. 

The  scientific  spirit  has  created  for  us  a  new 
world-view.  It  is  dynamic,  not  static,  a  proc- 
ess, not  a  structure.  All  that  exists  is  seen 
as  the  consequence  of  a  previous  condition. 
Everything  is  viewed  in  the  light  of  develop- 


"The  Forces  of  Unrest         53 

ment.  Even  Cause  is  not  looked  on  as  some- 
thing from  the  outside  producing  its  effect,  but 
as  within  the  process,  acted  on  and  acting  at 
one  and  the  same  time.  In  life  there  are  no 
fixed  types,  but  all  have  flowed  from  other 
forms,  and  themselves  are  moving  to  newer 
forms.  The  induction  made  is  that  a  force  can 
be  converted  into  other  forces,  and  that  the 
infinite  variety  of  the  world  has  been  so  made. 
In  this  endless  flux  the  idea  of  First  Cause  in 
the  old  sense  has  no  place.  I  am  not  here 
criticizing,  but  merely  describing  briefly — too 
briefly — a  world-view,  which  through  the 
thought  of  evolution  is  taking  possession  of 
men's  minds. 

It  is  impossible  that  such  a  view  of  nature 
can  be  held  by  science  without  affecting  the- 
ology. Science  works  by  the  assumption  of  a 
law  of  continuity.  Evolution  and  the  uniform- 
ity of  nature  are  only  other  forms  of  stating 
the  same  law.  Science  refuses  to  leave  any 
gaps,  and  indeed  its  work  consists  in  filling  up 
the  gaps.  The  traditional  theology  was  stated 
when  different  conceptions  of  the  world  w^ere 
current.    It  spoke  the  speech  of  its  time,  but 


54  The  New  World 

the  speech  has  changed  and  sounds  foreign  to 
many.  It  dates  from  a  time  when  a  comet 
was  a  portend  and  an  eclipse  meant  the  anger 
of  God,  when  witchcraft  was  a  natural  expla- 
nation for  some  things  and  certain  diseases 
were  thought  to  be  the  possession  of  a  devil. 

3.  The  New  Democracy.  Like  the  other 
forces  of  unrest  to  which  we  have  referred, 
democracy  is  not  a  new  thing.  But  the  fea- 
tures of  the  modern  democratic  spirit  are,  again, 
its  radical  nature  and  its  breadth  of  applica- 
tion. It  is  being  applied  with  a  vigour  and 
rigour  hitherto  unknown.  Other  democracies 
there  have  been,  but  of  limited  character.  The 
Greek  democracies  were  really  parochial,  the 
government  of  a  city,  and  with  restricted  cit- 
izenship at  that.  Also  they  were  built  on 
slave  labour.  The  slaves  of  course  were  ex- 
cluded, and  in  Athens  they  outnumbered  the 
whole  free  population.  All  resident  aliens 
were  excluded,  and  even  the  subject  allies. 
Besides,  it  was  only  a  democracy  for  those 
within  the  circle — outside  were  barbarians. 
Nowhere  was  possible  the  conception  which 


The  Forces  of  Unrest         55 

to-day  is  growing  in  men's  minds,  to  use  the 
words  of  Goldwin  Smith  which  have  become 
the  motto  of  Cornell  University,  "  Above  na- 
tions is  humanity." 

The  new  social  spirit  is  seen  everywhere,  and 
affects  every  region  of  life.  It  is  sweeping  over 
the  whole  world,  even  awakening  China  from 
what  looks  like  a  sleep  of  centuries.  Its  effects 
in  Europe  and  America  are  not  so  spectacular, 
but  are  as  far-reaching.  The  new  democratic 
movement  is  altering  political  theory,  and 
industrial  practice,  and  social  life  generally.  It 
is  a  vast  movement  of  which  we  see  hardly 
more  than  the  beginning,  but  that  it  spells 
change  of  all  sorts  no  one  can  doubt.  Already 
the  emphasis  is  on  social  ethics  not  merely 
private,  and  on  social  responsibility  not  merely 
individual.  We  see  it  in  the  new  sense  of  social 
guilt.  Religious  leaders  sometimes  speak  of 
men  to-day  being  hard  to  convict  of  guilt. 
That  is  true  of  some  things,  but  probably  more 
men  have  an  uncomfortable  conscience  than 
ever  before.  There  are  even  new  sins  rec- 
ognized by  the  conscience  that  is  enlightened 
by  the  social  spirit.     Again,  charity  of  the  old 


56  T*he  New  World 

type  is  not  so  highly  esteemed,  and  men  ask 
for  justice,  and  resent  the  superior  air  of  the 
distributor  of  alms  or  tracts.  Some  rights  that 
were  once  thought  to  be  purely  private  are 
brought  within  the  sweep  of  public  control. 
Everywhere  the  waters  of  our  social  life  are 
troubled,  stirred  to  their  depth  by  a  new  spirit. 
This  democratic  spirit  is  creating  a  new  social 
conception.  The  rising  tide  of  democratic  ideals 
has  altered  the  whole  configuration  of  the  coast, 
so  that  we  need  a  new  map.  Theology  cannot 
help  but  be  affected — not  only  in  some  of  its 
institutions  like  the  Church,  but  in  its  whole 
statement  and  emphasis.  In  the  long  run  there 
cannot  be  an  aristocratic  Church  in  a  democratic 
State.  The  traditional  theology  was  stated 
when  society  was  viewed  differently,  when  the 
natural  title  for  God  was  King  and  men  were 
subjects.  Even  when  old  names  are  retained, 
their  meaning  has  changed.  When  I  first  lived 
in  America  I  used  sometimes  to  refer  in  the 
common  English  phrase  to  the  "  liberty  of  the 
subjecV^  I  found  I  was  not  understood  and 
that  the  phrase  was  unknown,  but  instead  men 
spoke  of  the  liberty  of  the  citizen.    The  two 


The  Forces  of  Unrest         57 

words  in  the  English-speaking  world  meant 
precisely  the  same  thing.  I  realized  how  a 
word  can  remain,  and  yet  have  its  meaning 
transformed.  The  great  English  democratic 
movement  has  made  the  old  word  subject  mean 
simply  citizen.  So  in  religion  the  word  King- 
dom to-day  is  much  nearer  to  the  thought  of 
Jesus  than  it  has  ever  been  before ;  for  to  Him 
the  head  of  the  Kingdom  was  not  King  but 
Father. 

"We  have  hitherto  been  merely  making  an 
analysis  of  conditions,  but  that  in  itself  is  worth 
while.  It  is  a  mistake  to  despise  the  necessary 
work  of  diagnosis.  The  same  man  may  not  be 
able  to  give  at  once  a  correct  diagnosis  and  an 
infallible  prescription.  But  surely  the  way  is 
opened  for  at  least  a  possibility  of  cure  by  find- 
ing out  exactly  what  is  happening.  What 
Matthew  Arnold  said  of  Goethe  is  itself  a  great 
achievement : 

He  took  the  suffering  human  race, 
He  read  each  wound,  each  weakness  clear  ; 
And  struck  his  finger  on  the  place, 
And  said  :  Thou  ailest  here,  and  here. 


58  T^he  New  World 

We  are  always  inclined  to  look  for  a  nostrum, 
a  quack  medicine  that  will  by  magic  produce  a 
state  of  perfect  social  health.  But  there  never 
is — or  can  be — a  state  of  absolute  fixity.  That 
would  be  death.  Mr.  Chesterton  speaks  of  a 
certain  theory  as  "  satisfying  the  mind  with  a 
full  and  false  explanation."  It  will  bring  us 
far  on  the  way  if  we  realize  that  even  we  will 
never  be  able  to  say  the  last  word,  and  that  we 
can  be  content  to  have  enough  light  to  walk  by 
and  enough  truth  to  live  by. 

These  three  movements  are  ceaselessly  play- 
ing on  modern  life.  We  may  dread  them,  or 
welcome  them ;  we  may  exaggerate  their 
influence  in  some  particulars,  or  underestimate 
them,  but  that  they  are  forces  that  make  for 
change  we  cannot  deny.  Movements  so  subtle 
and  so  penetrating  cannot  have  free  course  in 
our  midst  without  affecting  our  statement  of 
everything  that  affects  man.  We  may  differ 
as  to  the  results.  We  may  differ  as  to  this  or 
that  item  in  the  program,  and  may  think  that 
a  particular  doctrine  need  not  be  changed,  but 
we  agree  as  to  the  process.  The  general  theo- 
logical   machinery  that  satisfied  our  fathers 


The  Forces  of  Unrest         59 

looks  strange  to  us.  While  it  is  not  our  part 
here  to  specify  in  detail  how  particular  doc- 
trines seem  to  be  affected,  there  are  certain 
things  that  can  be  said  in  general  about  the 
whole  subject.  We  will  content  ourselves  with 
three  evident  results  of  the  process.  Already 
we  see  how  unconsciously  a  change  of  emphasis 
has  taken  place. 

1.  Theology  does  not  attempt  so  much  as  it 
used  to  do.  We  have  even  discovered  that  we 
can  get  along  comfortably  enough  with  a  good 
deal  less  than  our  fathers  thought  necessary. 
The  old  was  an  attempt  to  put  the  whole  uni- 
verse into  a  single  system  of  logic.  Some  of 
our  present  distress  is  due  to  this ;  for  when  the 
view  of  the  universe  changes,  as  it  has  changed 
through  the  access  of  new  knowledge,  trouble 
begins.  If  the  old  seems  bound  up  with  re- 
ligion, we  feel  we  must  defend  it  at  all  costs, 
and  when  we  find  we  can  honestly  defend  it  no 
longer,  everything  goes  to  pieces.  Thus  Chris- 
tianity was  identified  with  doctrines  no  longer 
vital  to  us  and  doctrines  out  of  keeping  with 
modern  thought.  We  discover  that  there  is  no 
real  connection.     We  learn  that  we  do  not  need 


6o  The  New  IVorld 

to  tie  up  theology  with  a  theory  as  to  when 
and  how  the  world  began,  or  with  a  theory  as 
to  when  and  how  it  will  end.  These  are  very 
interesting  subjects  known  as  cosmogony  and 
eschatology,  but  they  are  not  of  the  essence  of 
the  Christian  faith.  Theology  in  the  broad 
sense  has  to  deal  with  these  and  other  abstruse 
subjects,  but  it  is  not  tied  up  to  any  ancient  or 
mediaeval  ideas  about  them. 

2.  We  have  a  truer  view  of  the  nature  and 
limits  of  theology.  It  is  merely  the  attempt 
of  the  mind  of  man  to  explain  the  facts  of  re- 
ligion and  to  interpret  the  experience  of  re- 
ligion. There  is  therefore  nothing  sacred  about 
it.  It  is  not  an  inclosure  from  which  intruders 
must  be  warned,  like  the  grass  in  front  of  the 
house  of  David  Copperfield's  aunt,  who  could 
not  endure  any  donkeys  on  it  even  for  a  mo- 
ment, and  who  spent  most  of  her  time  in  chas- 
ing them  off.  Even  donkeys  can  come  to  it  at 
their  peril.  Anybody  can  try  his  hand  on  the- 
ology— and  mostly  everybody  does !  But  some 
who  claim  the  right  to  alter  their  own  views 
object  to  the  Church  changing  her  doctrine. 
Naturally  a  church  with  a  creed  moves  more 


The  Forces  of  Unrest         61 

slowly,  and  does  not  alter  a  doctrine  till  the 
faith  of  the  church  compels  it.  This  at  once 
puts  creed  in  its  right  place,  which  is  certainly 
not  at  the  door  of  entrance.  We  do  not  begin 
with  a  creed — we  arrive  at  a  creed.  The  true 
point  of  view  is  that  theology  is  the  servant  of 
religion  and  not  that  religion  is  merely  the  ma- 
terial for  theology. 

No  science  is  complete.  It  is  always  ready 
to  alter  its  conceptions  with  new  facts  or  new 
explanations.  If  theology  is  in  any  sense  the 
scientific  formulation  of  the  facts  of  religious 
life,  it  follows  that  no  theology  can  be  accepted 
as  the  final  statement.  It  is  the  interpretation 
of  religious  experience,  and  each  age  has  to  in- 
terpret it  anew.  The  language,  the  thought, 
even  the  experience  itself  change.  The  more 
vital  and  central  a  truth  is,  the  more  it  de- 
mands restatement.  Above  all,  no  theology, 
no  matter  how  new  we  call  it,  can  alter  the 
facts.  It  can  mean  at  most  a  new  setting  of 
facts.  The  Copernican  astronomy  displaced  the 
old  Ptolemaic  astronomy  and  made  astrology 
impossible,  but  it  did  not  do  anything  to  the 
facts.     The  sun  and  the  moon  and  the  stars 


62  The  New  World 

went  on  exactly  as  before.  It  set  them  in  new 
relations.  The  new  chemistry  made  the  as- 
tronomer's stone  and  the  elixir  of  life  impos- 
sible— though  one  can  hardly  think  this  from 
the  advertisement  of  patent  medicines!  But 
everything  real  was  just  as  before,  only  the 
facts  were  classified,  and  related,  and  tested. 
So,  any  new  theology  can  only  put  the  relig- 
ious facts  of  human  history  and  experience  in 
new  relations. 

3.  There  has  been  a  change  of  emphasis 
from  the  speculative  to  the  practical  and  social. 
Christianity  has  never  entirely  lost  sight  of  the 
true  emphasis,  as  it  has  never  entirely  lost  sight 
of  its  Master.  But  there  is  always  a  danger  of 
making  true  opinions  the  test  of  faith.  In 
every  age  the  great  leaders  of  religion  have 
put  the  emphasis  right.  Henry  Crabb  Robin- 
son in  his  "  Reminiscences  "  tells  how,  when  a 
boy  of  fifteen,  he  heard  John  Wesley  preach 
not  long  before  his  death.  He  was  so  feeble 
that  he  was  held  up  in  the  pulpit  by  two  men 
with  their  hands  under  his  armpits.  The  pic- 
ture of  that  reverend  countenance  with  his  long 
white  locks  before  the  vast  crowd  of  his  lovers 


The  Forces  of  Unrest         63 

and  admirers  was  one  never  to  be  forgotten. 
After  the  last  prayer  Wesley  rose  up  and  ad- 
dressed the  people  on  liberality  of  sentiment, 
and  spoke  against  refusing  to  join  a  congrega- 
tion on  account  of  difference  of  opinion.  He 
said, "  If  they  do  but  fear  God,  work  righteous- 
ness, and  keep  His  commandments,  we  have 
nothing  to  object  to."  We  learn  that  Chris- 
tians are  united  not  by  a  common  creed,  but 
by  a  common  purpose,  and  they  find  their  pur- 
pose in  the  great  purpose  of  their  Master. 


Ill 

The  Acid  of  Criticism 


The  Bible  is  a  **  library  "  showing  how  men 
variously  gifted  by  the  Spirit  of  God  cast  the  truth 
which  they  received  into  many  different  literary  forms, 
as  genius  permitted  or  occasion  demanded. — Driver. 


Ill 

THE  ACID  OF  CRITiaSM 


RITICISM  is  one  of  those 
words  which  have  suffered 
from  laxity  of  speech.  It  is 
often  used  as  if  it  must  mean 
censure  of  the  thing  judged, 
and  sometimes  a  querulous  ''  picking  holes  "  in 
it.  It  also  has  suffered  from  being  looked  on 
as  something  personal,  the  private  opinion  of 
the  critic.  Disraeli  in  "  Lothau' "  even  says 
that  critics  are  the  men  who  have  failed  in 
literature  and  art — a  strange  remark  to  make 
when  the  English  list  includes  men  like  Words- 
worth and  Coleridge  and  Hazlitt  and  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds  and  Matthew  Arnold. 

Criticism  in  its  technical  sense  is  the  art  of 
judging  the  merits  and  values  of  a  work  of  art. 
But  the  word  has  a  much  broader  meaning 
than  mere  appreciation  of  an  aesthetic  object. 
It  is  used  for  the  spirit  which  questions  author- 
ity, which  asks  fundamental  questions  about  all 

67 


68  The  New  World 

established  beliefs  and  institutions.  It  breaks 
down  all  unthinking  acceptance  of  old  positions, 
and  applies  its  acid  to  the  most  venerable  con- 
ditions. In  many  respects  it  is  the  most  radical 
force  at  work  in  modern  society ;  for  it  not  only 
questions  all  existing  forms  of  authority,  but 
also  asks  what  authority  itself  is.  Men  every- 
where are  asking  why  things  should  be  as  they 
are,  and  how  they  came  to  be  so.  Criticism  of 
course  is  not  new.  The  first  man  was  a  critic — 
certainly  the  first  woman  was.  But  the  critical 
spirit  in  the  world  to-day  goes  to  the  roots  of 
everything,  to  the  very  basis  of  society  itself. 

The  eifects  on  religion  are  of  a  piece  with 
those  in  other  regions  of  life.  Customs,  tradi- 
tions, established  ways  of  thinking,  are  ques- 
tioned here  as  elsewhere.  For  Protestantism 
the  most  important  struggle  has  been  over  the 
authority  of  the  Bible.  So,  naturally,  we  take 
this  subject  to  illustrate  the  methods  and  re- 
sults of  the  critical  spirit.  Preachers  of  an- 
other time  may  have  been  confronted  by  hostile 
speculation  and  had  to  adapt  the  faith  to  new 
positions,  but  the  modern  preacher  has  to  con- 
sider the  whole  new  attitude  towards  the  Bible, 


T^he  Acid  of  Criticism        69 

He  may  envy  the  minister  of  olden  days  who 
simply  came  to  his  people  with  a  "  Thus  saith 
the  Lord,"  and  was  satisfied  if  he  could  nail  a 
truth  with  Scripture.  If  he  could  get  chapter 
and  verse  he  had  done  his  duty,  and  he  did  not 
worry  much  as  to  what  the  chapter  was  or 
where  the  verse  was. 

When  I  hear  an  older  minister  use  any  Psalm 
indifferently  to  illustrate  the  life  of  David,  or 
use  David  to  illustrate  a  Psalm,  with  a  sublime 
disregard  of  the  critical  study  of  the  Psalms  or 
of  David,  I  feel  he  has  some  advantage  over  me, 
at  least  in  the  ease  with  which  he  can  construct 
a  sermon.  I  know  that  the  Psalm  is  the  same, 
and  the  real  truth  of  it  is  unchanged,  but  I  feel 
he  has  the  advantage  in  being  able  to  recall  as- 
sociations that  lie  deep  in  the  hearts  of  his  older 
hearers,  who  may  find  a  more  scientific  interpre- 
tation of  the  Psalm  a  little  cold  by  comparison, 
without  David's  warm  flesh  and  blood.  Asso- 
ciation means  much,  especially  in  w^orship,  as 
we  know  in  other  ways.  Men,  otherwise 
awake  to  modern  conditions,  sometimes  resent 
anything  that  disturbs  their  old  \vay  of  looking 
at  texts  and  passages,  partly  from  the  natural 


yo  The  New  World 

and  beautiful  association  in  worship  with  which 
the  whole  traditional  view  of  things  is  bound  up. 
Now,  for  good  or  ill,  criticism  has  affected 
our  material.  We  cannot  deal  with  it  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  way,  and  this  to  many  minds 
means  almost  irreparable  loss,  a  feeling  with 
which  we  must  be  very  tender.  It  has  been 
said  that  vast  tracts  of  Scripture  which  were 
luminous  and  comfortable  to  our  fathers  are 
bare  desert  to  the  younger  generation.  That  is 
the  natural  first  feeling  after  a  battle — what 
we  have  lost.  The  time  comes  to  count  up  the 
gains — what  we  have  won  ;  and  the  first  task  of 
the  pulpit  is  to  reclaim  these  desert  places. 
And  it  is  only  right  to  say,  over  against  that 
wail  of  loss,  that  to  some  of  us  modern  Biblical 
study  has  resulted  in  what  has  almost  been  a 
rediscovery  of  the  Bible.  The  message  of  the 
Bible  has  come  with  fresh  force  to  heart  and 
conscience. 

It  is  worth  while  noting  that  the  very  suc- 
cess of  Christian  teaching  is  in  part  responsible 
for  the  changed  view  of  the  Bible.  It  really 
became  a  necessity  for  the  sake  of  the  Gospel 


The  Acid  of  Criticism        7 1 

itself.  The  ethical  spirit  of  our  time  is  the 
work  of  Christianity,  and  there  had  been  a 
growing  sense  of  protest  against  associating  in 
the  old  way  the  imperfect  morality  of  some 
parts  of  the  Old  Testament  with  the  highest 
religion.  For  long  the  protest  was  delayed  by 
the  habit  of  spiritualizing  passages  when  they 
conflicted  with  Christian  teaching,  reading 
mystic  meaning  into  details,  and  generally 
evading  difficulties  with  some  sleight-of-hand. 
The  Christian  conscience  condemns  some  things 
which  the  Old  Testament  approves.  Unless  we 
are  to  play  fast  and  loose  with  the  natural 
meaning  of  the  word,  the  ethical  standard  of 
our  day  demands  that  the  traditional  view  of 
Scripture  be  modified.  This  moral  difficulty 
disappears  when  we  recognize  the  fact  of  devel- 
opment, which  of  course  implies  that  we  do  not 
put  all  Scripture  on  the  same  level  of  authority. 
At  any  rate,  we  have  now  to  accept  the  fact 
that  criticism  has  come  to  stay,  that  there  is  no 
use  merely  opposing  and  fighting  it.  It  is  like 
trying  to  sweep  back  the  ocean  to  say  to  the 
mind  of  man,  Thus  far,  but  no  farther.  How- 
ever  much   the  minds  of  many  simple,  pious 


72  The  New  World 

people  are  disturbed  by  the  work  of  theological 
and  especially  Biblical  criticism,  we  cannot 
escape  it,  partly  because  a  critical  stage  is 
necessary  before  a  stage  of  reconstruction,  and 
also  because  the  mind  of  man  has  slipped  from 
old  fetters. 

It  is  not  enough  to  attempt  to  discredit  criti.. 
cism  by  pointing  to  its  mistakes,  its  rash  judg- 
ments, its  amended  verdicts.  The  mistakes  of 
applying  a  method  do  not  vitiate  the  method,  if 
the  method  is  essential.  And  we  do  not  dis- 
pose of  criticism  by  the  sneer  about  doctors 
differing,  pointing  to  scholars  fighting  each 
other  for  different  explanations  of  a  disputed 
point,  as  if  it  were  all  a  matter  of  words.  We 
cannot  escape  the  whole  problem  by  assuming 
that  nothing  has  been  really  settled  by  criti- 
cism, and  that  we  may  wait  till  authorities  who 
differ  come  to  agreement.  It  is  well  to  bear  in 
mind  that  some  points  are  now  fixed  in  the 
view  of  the  great  majority  of  capable  scholars. 

The  traditional  view  still  goes  on  fighting 
rear-guard  battles,  withdrawing  but  never  ad- 
mitting defeat.  This  is  natural,  since  many 
men  feel  that  so  much  dear  to  themselves  is  at 


The  Acid  of  Criticism        73 

stake ;  but  it  is  unfortunate,  not  only  for  the 
common  man  who  is  troubled  by  the  din,  but 
also  for  the  combatants  themselves.  For  it  has 
induced  in  some  cases  a  wild  and  rash  and  im- 
patient criticism  among  some  forward  scholars 
— a  little  like  the  rage  of  besieging  soldiers  at 
the  stubborn  defense  of  the  besieged.  Indeed, 
so  fierce  has  been  the  fight  that  it  may  be  said 
that  our  generation  is  not  able  fully  to  compre- 
hend the  complete  results,  and  it  will  lie  with 
some  of  the  younger  who  have  not  been 
brought  up  under  the  older  regime  to  estimate 
the  gain  and  the  loss. 

Criticism  is  often  spoken  of  as  a  very  modern 
device  sprung  upon  the  Church  by  willful  men. 
It  is  a  mistake  to  assume  that  it  is  so  very 
modern.  A  book  like  Cheyne's  "  Founders  of 
Old  Testament  Criticism  "  traces  the  movement 
from  some  of  the  early  precursors  of  it  in  Eng- 
land, which  takes  it  back  to  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, through  a  now  long  list  of  scholars  who 
gave  themselves  to  the  scientific  study  of  the 
long-admitted  problems  of  the  literature  of  the 
Bible.  "We  talk  of  Biblical  Criticism,  but  we 
must  remember  that  there  is  no  special  connec- 


74  The  New  JVorld 

tion  between  these  two  words,  as  if  there  were 
a  peculiar  science  of  that  name.  It  is  the  ap- 
plication to  the  Bible  of  the  principles  by  which 
all  literature  is  tested.  This  is  really  the  central 
point  in  the  fight — whether  the  uniqueness  of 
the  Bible  is  such  that  it  cannot  have  the  tests 
applied  to  it  which  we  would  certainly  apply, 
and  do  apply,  to  all  other  ancient  literature. 

It  can  never  be  a  gain  to  lose  intellectual 
veracity,  and  we  know  that  men  often  fight  for 
what  is  of  no  real  value.  Many  a  time  the 
Church  would  have  said,  and  did  say,  that 
everything  went  if  a  certain  theory  of  the  min- 
istry or  the  sacraments  were  touched.  The 
Church  thought  that  Galileo's  theory  was  sub- 
versive of  everything  sacred.  Luther  denounced 
Copernicus.  And  so  on  through  a  long  list  of 
mistaken  judgments  which  honestly  thought 
things  vital  that  events  have  proved  not  so. 

These  mistakes  in  the  past  have  all  been  due 
to  the  attempt  to  isolate  the  Bible  from  all 
other  streams  of  knowledge  that  pour  in  upon 
man.  The  young  science  of  geology  was 
frowned  on  and  denied,  because  it  was  supposed 
to  contradict  certain  views  of  the  creation  of  the 


The  Acid  of  Criticism        75 

world  in  Genesis ;  but  no  one  to-day  thinks  that 
we  must  either  get  rid  of  Genesis  or  of  geology. 
The  astronomy  that  held  that  the  earth  went 
round  the  sun  was  declared  infidel  for  similar 
reasons.  We  should  at  least  have  learned  from 
all  these  futile  fights  that  we  cannot  cut  off  the 
Bible  from  the  influence  of  other  studies.  This 
is  what  essentially  the  present  fight  with  criti- 
cism is  about.  The  general  conclusions  of  critics 
are  established  on  the  principles  by  which  all 
history  and  literature  are  judged.  The  ultra- 
conservative  is  saying  over  again  what  the  In- 
quisition said  to  Galileo,  and  what  Wesley  said 
to  J^ewton — practically  that  the  interpretation 
of  the  Bible  has  no  relation  to  other  knowl- 
edge of  our  time.  We  surely  see  that  we  can- 
not isolate  the  Bible  from  all  other  subjects, 
and  have  an  air-tight  compartment  in  our  minds 
for  it. 

The  right  attitude  is  the  courage  born  of  faith. 
One  thing  is  certain,  that  we  always  suffer  and 
never  gain  from  the  theologian  in  a  panic,  who 
brands  all  critics  as  atheists,  and  seems  glad  to 
prove  that  all  faith  disappears  if  a  critical  posi- 
tion be  accepted.     He  is  showing  a  lamentable 


76  The  New  World 

lack  of  faith  in  the  power  of  truth.  Theolog- 
ical hysterics  are  the  worst  form  of  that  dis- 
ease. We  ought  to  believe  in  truth  and  be  sure 
that  only  truth  can  permanently  satisfy  us. 
Truth  is  not  to  be  reached  and  not  to  be  con- 
served by  repression  of  thought  and  taking 
away  the  liberty  of  research.  That  is  only  to 
minister  to  superstition  on  the  one  side,  and  to 
skepticism  on  the  other.  The  problems  raised 
by  criticism  must  be  decided  by  criticism.  If 
we  feel  that  some  scholarship  has  been  rash  and 
irresponsible,  so  that  its  findings  are  false,  then 
scholarship  alone  can  conquer  it  on  its  own 
ground.  When  Strauss's  "  Life  of  Jesus  "  con- 
vulsed religious  circles  in  Germany,  the  Prus- 
sian Government  proposed  to  interdict  the  book, 
but  Neander  said,  ]^o,  let  us  answer  it  by  argu- 
ment, not  by  authority.     He  was  surely  right. 

There  are  two  great  influences  of  our  time 
which  have  put  the  Bible  into  the  melting-pot. 
The  first  is  the  modern  principles  by  which  all 
literature  and  history  are  tested.  This  of 
course  is  what  is  meant  by  the  foolish  name 
Higher  Criticism.     It  means  historical  criticism 


T'he  Acid  of  Criticism        77 

as  distinguished  from  textual  or  Lower  Criti- 
cism. The  place  of  Textual  Criticism  is  ad- 
mitted by  all.  But  Higher  Criticism  analyzes 
the  sources,  makes  pronouncements  on  authen- 
ticity, on  age,  on  historicity.  This  is  why  it 
raises  such  opposition  and  such  tumult,  because 
it  comes  so  near  to  the  very  foundations  of  the 
historical  faith.  It  is,  as  we  have  seen,  part 
of  the  modern  treatment,  and  is  applied  to 
Homer's  ''  Iliad,"  to  the  early  history  of  Rome, 
the  mediaeval  history  of  Germany,  with  the 
same  rigour  and  vigour  as  to  the  Bible.  It 
asks  about  a  book  of  Scripture,  not  merely.  Is 
this  a  faithful  text,  and  if  not,  can  we  get  at 
the  text  ?  It  asks  questions  like  this :  Is  the 
author  such  as  is  stated  ?  Was  he  contempo- 
rary with  the  events  narrated  ?  What  were 
his  sources  of  knowledge — from  first-hand,  or 
from  previous  documents,  or  from  tradition? 
Had  he  any  axe  to  grind,  any  theological  or 
partisan  or  priestly  bias  ?  Can  we  analyze  his 
sources  of  information?  Was  the  book  re- 
edited,  or  touched  by  other  hands  ?  Is  there 
any  external  evidence  which  confirms  or  con- 
troverts any  statement  ? 


78  The  New  World 

We  see  what  a  large  order  all  this  is,  and 
how  we  let  ourselves  in  for  all  manner  of  sub- 
jective dangers.  At  the  same  time  the  Bible 
cannot  evade  this  process,  and  if  a  book  is 
proved  to  be  a  compilation,  or  if  the  tradi- 
tional date  is  rejected  on  grounds  that  would 
be  universally  admitted  in  the  case  of  any 
other  ancient  literature,  w^e  must  candidly  ac- 
cept facts,  and  not  start  with  assumptions  as 
to  what  the  Bible  must  be  before  going  to  the 
Bible  to  find  out  humbly  what  it  is. 

The  second  great  influence  which  has  made 
modern  criticism  a  necessity  is  the  now  recog- 
nized principle  of  development.  This  principle 
has  altered  the  study  of  almost  every  subject, 
and  nowhere  so  markedly  as  the  study  of  his- 
tory. Such  a  vital  principle  at  work  in  men's 
minds  must  sooner  or  later  be  applied  to  the 
history  of  Israel  and  the  Church,  and  must 
result  in  modifying  the  traditional  views.  The 
recognized  results  of  criticism  are  such  as 
these:  The  literature  of  the  Bible  was  gath- 
ered into  the  Canon  largely  from  the  point  of 
view  of  edification  and  not  by  historical  inves- 
tigation.    So  that  for  one  thing   we  cannot 


"The  Acid  of  Criticism        -]() 

assume  the  order  in  which  the  books  exist. 
Dates  and  authorship  were  not  subjected  to 
what  we  would  call  scientific  criticism.  They 
are  often  the  result  of  mere  tradition.  Fur- 
ther, the  ancients  had  not  our  ideal  and  our 
customs  regarding  literature,  and  reediting  and 
writing  under  another  name  Avere  common. 

At  first  sight  the  old  view  of  Scripture 
which  simply  accepted  the  traditional  dates 
and  order  of  the  books  seemed  to  give  a  con- 
sistent and  imposing  development  of  Israel  and 
of  Israel's  faith,  beginning  with  the  patriarchal 
times  of  Genesis  and  the  Mosaic  deliverance  of 
the  Law ;  then  through  the  checkered  history 
of  Judges  and  Kings,  with  the  Psalter  and  the 
prophecies  giving  the  blossom  and  the  fruit  of 
the  law ;  then  the  exile  and  the  return  and  the 
descent  into  ritual  and  formalism ;  till  in  the 
fullness  of  time  Christ  came.  In  the  old  view 
the  law  was  first  in  time,  as  to  the  Jewish 
Church  it  has  been  first  in  importance. 

Criticism  has  changed  this  whole  position. 
The  books  placed  first  in  the  Cid  Testament 
are  not  first  in  time  as  we  have  them.  Their 
final  form  was  reached  long  after  the  periods 


8o  The  New  JVorld 

with  which  they  deal.  It  is  thus  not  merely 
a  documentary  rearrangement  which  is  de- 
manded, but  a  complete  reversal  of  the  con- 
ception of  ancient  Jewish  history.  In  the  old 
view  the  Law  given  by  Moses  regulated  and 
conditioned  all  subsequent  revelation ;  so  that 
the  Prophets  were  men  recalling  the  people  to 
adhere  to  that  elaborate  system.  This  has 
been  the  consistent  view  of  the  Jewish  Church. 
They  practically  identified  religion  with  the 
Law,  which  explains  the  attitude  of  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  of  Christ's  time.  They  made  it 
their  work  to  apply  and  expound  and  explain 
the  law  of  Moses,  to  interpret  it.  It  follows 
naturally  that  they  should  wrap  up  religion  in 
legal  forms,  and  that  books  like  the  prophecies 
and  Psalms,  which  are  to  us  the  books  of  re- 
ligion specially,  were  less  valuable  than  the 
Law,  and  really  inferior  in  quality. 

The  modern  critical  position  reverses  this 
order  both  in  time  and  in  quality.  And,  for 
one  thing,  we  see  how  in  this  matter  criticism 
confirms  what  has  been  the  practical  custom 
in  the  whole  Christian  Church  even  when  the 
theory  has  been  all  the  other  way,  namely,  the 


'The  Acid  of  Criticism        81 

custom  of  finding  the  truest  inspiration  in  the 
very  books  which,  according  to  the  old  view, 
are  merely  expansions  of  what  has  been  given 
by  God  in  more  definite  form  as  Laws.  Jesus 
changed  the  estimate  of  the  Bible;  and  the 
Church  has  always  believed  that  the  perma- 
nent value  of  Eevelation  did  not  lie  in  the 
Law  as  such.  Note  how  instinctively  we 
turn  to  the  Prophets  or  Psalms  for  religious 
quickening  and  comfort  and  for  spiritual  truth. 
The  new  critical  position,  then,  is  not  that  the 
Law  was  first  and  prophecy  was  an  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Law,  but  that  prophecy  was  first 
and  the  Law  is  the  crystallizing  of  the  truths 
of  revelation  into  institutions  and  customs  and 
life.  The  emphasis  of  the  new  standpoint  is 
laid,  not  on  a  priestly  system  and  ritual,  but 
on  inspiration  and  spmtual  experience. 

I  would  not  underestimate  some  of  the  diffi- 
culties raised  by  criticism  and  the  unsolved 
problems  and  even  the  dangers  to  faith  by  the 
necessity  of  readjustment  of  some  items  of 
creed ;  but  the  fact  is  that  criticism  is  really 
driving  the  Church  to  build  her  faith  deeper, 
forcing  her  out  of  all  makeshifts  and  half-way 


82  The  New  World 

houses.  The  spiritual  authority  of  Scripture 
is  not  undermined  by  any  results  of  investiga- 
tion. Indeed,  it  is  put  on  a  surer  basis  to  the 
believing  heart.  While  for  the  time  the  old 
preaching  has  lost  verve  and  grip,  there  may 
be  a  new  note  of  spiritual  power  in  the  new 
preaching,  and  my  one  purpose  in  this  broad 
and  hasty  review  has  been  that  we  should  take 
the  right  attitude  towards  this  whole  process 
and  should  calmly  assert  the  facts  of  religion 
and  live  the  life  of  faith. 

There  are  some  things  to  remember  in  con- 
nection with  the  subject  of  criticism  in  our 
thinking.  One  thing  is  that  criticism  is  not  an 
end  in  itself.  Personally,  I  willingly  give  it 
its  full  innings,  but  I  will  not  let  it  monopolize 
all  the  field.  After  criticism  comes  the  oppor- 
tunity for  getting  at  new  values  and  truer  ap- 
preciations. After  analysis  comes  the  need  for 
a  truer  synthesis.  The  critical  analysis  of 
documents  undoubtedly  affects  all  our  results 
and  influences  interpretation,  but  it  only  calls 
for  a  new  interpretation.  Sometimes  this  in- 
terpretation seems  poorer  and  we  seem  to  suffer 


The  Acid  of  Criticism        83 

loss  of  old  comfort ;  but  often  it  is  richer  and 
nobler,  and  we  discover  that  things  have  only 
suffered  a  sea  change  into  something  rich  and 
strange. 

A  second  practical  lesson — this  time  espe- 
cially for  preachers — is  that  they  should  con- 
sume their  own  smoke.  They  should  give  re- 
sults rather  than  processes.  It  is  not  their 
business  to  discuss  in  the  pulpit  critical  hypoth- 
eses, and  all  sorts  of  scholastic  and  academic 
controversies.  It  is  their  business  to  expound 
truth  and  to  apply  it  to  life.  '  By  putting  the 
stress  on  the  right  thing  they  shape  their  hear- 
ers' minds  even  in  the  matter  of  criticism. 
They  learn  the  real  things  of  religion.  Crit- 
ical processes  should  affect  the  thinking  and 
the  presentation  of  a  subject,  but  should  not  be 
the  material  of  preaching. 

There  follows  from  this  lesson  a  third  one, 
going  deeper  into  the  true  place  of  criticism. 
Questions  of  authenticity  and  discussions  of 
dates  and  documents  and  authorship  are  useful 
and  interesting  and  necessary ;  but  religion  as 
spiritual  experience  with  a  history  of  the  past 
and  with  a  living  present  does  not  depend  on 


84  The  New  World 

these  discussions.  If  we  live  as  religious  men, 
we  do  not  live  by  these  things.  The  living 
realities  of  the  Bible  are  not  affected  by  schol- 
arly researches  or  even  doubts  and  denials. 
Life  does  not  stop  while  biologists  inquire  into 
the  unsolved  problems  of  their  science.  Re- 
ligious life  does  not  stop  while  experts  examine 
records. 

In  any  case,  it  is  worth  while  insisting  that 
you  do  not  account  for  the  Christian  life  by  any 
sort  of  literary  criticism.  The  life  remains  a 
fact  of  history  and  experience,  to  be  explained 
if  you  can,  but  not  to  be  explained  away. 
Literature  did  not  create  it,  and  no  dealing 
with  the  literature  for  or  against  can  destroy 
it.  The  institutions  that  life  creates  can  be 
criticized  and  analyzed,  but  the  life  itself  can- 
not be  explained  by  any  kind  of  analysis.  The 
literature  of  the  Bible  is  the  genuine  expression 
of  the  religious  life  of  the  Bible.  The  litera- 
ture does  not  even  verify  the  life  any  more 
than  it  generates  the  life :  the  life  verifies  the 
literature.  It  is  a  question  of  life — this  ques- 
tion of  religion ;  and  criticism  cannot  touch 
life.     It  deals  with  the  fringe,  the  methods  and 


The  Acid  of  Criticism        85 

the  outward  manifestations  of  life.  There  is 
room  for  criticism,  for  thought,  for  reason  in 
the  unfathomable  depths  of  divine  truth,  but 
these  do  not  generate  the  truth.  It  is  intuitive. 
The  child,  the  ignorant,  the  unlearned  may  see 
it.  It  is  to  be  seen,  not  argued  about.  Men 
spoke  before  the  laws  of  grammar  were  pro- 
pounded. Men  reasoned  before  Aristotle  built 
up  logic.  Men  sang  before  the  theory  of  music 
was  dreamed  of.  Men  ate  before  the  chemistry 
of  edibles  was  studied.  Men  believed  before 
theology  was  built  up  into  a  system  to  for- 
mulate their  faith.  The  explanation  may  be 
difficult,  but  the  thing  itself  is  simple.  The 
science  of  it  may  be  imperfect  and  hard,  but 
the  thing  itself  is  intuitive — a  flash,  a  gleam, 
an  inspiration,  an  act. 

We  have  to  beware  of  the  paralyzing  effect 
of  criticism  on  religion,  and  this  is  to  be  done 
by  realizing  the  limitations  of  all  criticism. 
We  can  see  this  paralysis  in  literature  and  art 
when  criticism  is  allowed  too  large  a  place.  A 
poet  may  be  so  finical  about  the  right  words, 
so  afraid  to  venture  anything,  so  concerned 
about  perfecting  his  poetic  apparatus,  that  he 


86  The  New  World 

can  produce  nothing,  or  when  he  does  it  may 
be  refined  away  to  mere  elegances  of  speech 
without  virility,  without  thought,  without  an}'' 
special  meaning.  The  vision,  the  intuition,  the 
poetic  impulse,  are  often  weakened  by  a  too 
great  regard  for  the  formal  standards  in  vogue. 
In  all  art,  such  as  the  interpretation  of  beauty 
in  painting,  or  the  interpretation  of  thought  by 
writing  in  literature  or  by  speech  in  oratory, 
the  first  and  chief  factor  is  intuition.  It  is 
not  attained  by  analysis,  by  criticism,  by  re- 
solving the  thing  into  its  component  parts.  It 
is  creative,  constructive,  a  great  emotion  which 
opens  the  eyes  to  the  beauty  or  the  truth. 
Criticism  is  not  incompatible  with  it,  nay,  is 
necessary  for  it  at  its  highest,  but  if  it  is  domi- 
nated by  too  great  regard  for  rule  and  conven- 
tion, it  loses  all  distinction  and  takes  its  place 
among  the  great  crowd  of  mediocrity. 

In  practical  life  also  criticism  will  paralyze 
beneficence  and  philanthropy,  as  it  paralyzes 
poetry.  Charity  organization  is  dearly  bought 
at  the  expense  of  charity  itself.  In  religion 
the  same  effect  is  often  felt.  This  temptation 
is  specially  prominent  in  our  day.     Every  doc- 


The  Acid  of  Criticism        87 

trine,  every  article  of  faith,  every  form  of  creed, 
every  authority,  has  been  tested  and  examined. 
All  this  is  good  and  necessary.  But  the  very 
real  danger  arises  of  mistaking  the  scope  and 
function  of  criticism.  The  fact  that  theology  is 
in  process  of  restatement  does  not  mean  that  re- 
ligion may  be  given  the  go-by  meanwhile.  The 
forms  of  religion,  its  history,  its  foundations  in 
the  past  and  the  present,  its  formulas  of  state- 
ment, can  all  bear  investigation.  But  no  micro- 
scope or  test-tube  can  alter  the  fact  of  it.  It  is 
spiritual  life  and  it  lives  by  its  own  divine  right. 
Religion  is  ultimately  no  more  affected  by 
the  Higher  Criticism  than  the  earth  is  affected 
by  geology  and  the  flight  of  the  eagle  is  affected 
by  biology.  It  is  stupid  to  think  that  Christian 
life  and  work  ought  to  be  suspended  meanwhile, 
because  men  are  investigating  the  records  of 
religious  history  or  are  criticizing  the  state- 
ments of  theology.  Life  must  go  on,  and  we 
cannot  call  a  halt  to  wait  for  ultimate  decisions 
of  criticism. 


IV 

The  Method  of  Science 


Science    is    the    hypothesis   of  constant  relations 
between  phenomena. — Boutroux, 


ly 


-sj— a — : ^=^.  II 

S  \Wv^  \\ 

^^Sj 

M 

THE  METHOD  OF  SCIENCE 

OE  myself,  I  am  a  Celt  by  ori- 
gin, and  some  of  the  gloom 
and  poetry  of  the  hills  is  in 
my  blood.  In  certain  moods 
I  do  not  care  a  rush  about 
the  scientific  universe.  In  certain  moods  I 
would  rejoice  in  a  world  where  fairies  dance, 
and  ghosts  walk,  and  mystery  broods  over  the 
every-day  life  of  man.  When  a  little  boy  I 
shuddered  with  fearful  joy  at  stories  my  grand- 
father told  of  second-sight  and  death-warn- 
ings. The  lowland  Scot  smiled  with  contempt 
at  such  a  childish  world.  Yet  he  was  himself 
living  in  the  same  sort  of  universe,  only  the 
Celt  made  poetry  of  it  and  got  some  thrills 
from  it.  The  Saxon  did  not  imagine  such  in- 
teresting things  about  the  world  as  fairies  and 
ghosts,  but  his  world  was  if  possible  just  as  ir- 
rational, if  we  can  judge  from  his  theology  and 

91 


92  The  New  W^orld 

his  general  thinking.  I  speak  of  the  fairies 
because  when  we  dismiss  them,  we  have  to 
find  a  place  for  poetry,  or  no  scientific  uni- 
verse will  compensate  for  the  loss  to  the  life  of 
men. 

When  we  say  that  the  greatest  factor  of 
change  in  thought  is  modern  science,  it  means 
more  than  that  scientific  investigation  and  dis- 
covery have  immensely  enlarged  the  universe. 
Of  course,  that  in  itself  has  compelled  some 
changed  views.  A  universe  extending  endlessly 
in  space  has  altered  our  manner  of  thought  if 
not  our  manner  of  speech.  Men  used  to  think 
of  the  heavens  as  somewhere  above  and  near 
the  earth,  and  could  speak  naively  of  ascen- 
sions. But  in  our  universe  there  is  no  longer 
up  nor  down.  There  are  moments  when  we 
seem  to  cower  despairingly  in  the  presence  of 
immensities  and  eternities.  We  have  lost  the 
comfort  of  a  snug  and  companionable  earth. 
When  the  world  seemed  smaller,  men  more 
readily  knew  themselves  at  home. 

We  can,  however,  exaggerate  the  fancied 
difference.    As  a  matter  of  fact  men  have  al- 


The  Method  of  Science        93 

ways  lived  in  what  seemed  to  them  a  vast  and 
immeasurable  world.  There  was  always  a 
great  unknown  spreading  out  on  every  side 
from  the  borders  of  the  known.  The  soul  of 
man  was  ever  awed  and  inspired  into  poetry 
and  worship  and  romance  by  the  sheer  magni- 
tude of  the  world.  "When  I  consider  Thy 
heavens,"  says  the  ancient  Hebrew  poet,  "  the 
work  of  Thy  fingers,  the  moon  and  the  stars 
which  Thou  hast  ordained ;  what  is  man  that 
Thou  art  mindful  of  him,  or  the  son  of  man 
that  Thou  visitest  him  ?  "  It  reads  like  the  re- 
flection of  a  modern  before  the  wonders  of 
astronomy.  It  is  probably  as  easy  for  us  to- 
day to  feel  ourselves  at  home  in  the  universe 
as  ever  before ;  for  though  the  world  has  infi- 
nitely expanded,  it  has  in  another  sense  shrunk. 
As  phenomena  get  gathered  under  laws,  and 
forces  of  nature  are  harnessed  for  use,  and  the 
mysterious  becomes  explained,  and  effects  are 
tracked  to  causes,  we  lose  some  of  the  dread  of 
the  unknown.  However  vast  the  universe  ap- 
pears, we  treat  it  as  rational,  and  trust  it  not 
to  play  us  false. 

If  some  change  comes  from  the  thought  of  a 


94  The  New  World 

universe  extending  endlessly  in  space,  perhaps 
more  change  is  the  result  of  a  universe  extend- 
ing endlessly  in  time.  When  the  world  began 
only  a  few  thousand  years  ago,  the  history  of 
man  was  a  very  simple  story.  It  could  be  told 
in  a  very  few  chapters,  and  a  few  controlling 
ideas  could  explain  everything.  A  fall  from 
an  original  state  of  innocence  explained  why 
man  did  not  stay  as  he  had  been  created. 
Otherwise  in  all  essential  features  of  his  nature 
man  had  always  been  as  he  is.  Logic  had  a 
very  easy  task;  for  reason  was  a  quality  of 
mind  and  was  the  same  everywhere.  But  the 
story  of  the  world  has  been  carried  into  mil- 
lions of  years  and  the  comparatively  great 
antiquity  of  man  has  made  the  human  story  no 
longer  the  simple  thing  it  was. 

Once  more,  we  may  exaggerate  the  difference 
of  the  two  points  of  view.  The  soul  of  man 
was  awed  by  the  story,  which  looks  to  us  such 
a  simple  and  childish  one  alongside  of  the  nevf 
story  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  life.  The 
ancient  story  inspired  epics  of  creation,  of 
man's  fall,  and  man's  redemption,  with  a 
grandeur    of    conception   which  makes   them 


The  Method  of  Science        95 

among  our  treasured  possessions.  There  is  a 
sense  in  which  the  modern  view  has  made  the 
story  of  man  more  simple,  explaining  things 
that  were  insoluble  mysteries,  enabling  us  to 
look  back  over  the  long  story  of  the  ascent  of 
man  with  pride  and  to  look  forward  with  hope. 
The  mere  extension  in  time  has  not  in  itself 
made  so  great  a  difference,  any  more  than  the 
mere  extension  in  space. 

Far  more  effective  for  change  than  the 
thought  of  a  greater  universe  introduced  by 
science  has  been,  and  is,  the  general  scientific 
atmosphere  in  which  we  live,  and  above  all 
the  conviction  of  the  validity  of  the  scientific 
method  of  proof.  With  the  ordinary  man  this 
is  vague  and  general,  and  he  speaks  mistily 
about  the  men  working  in  science  as  "they." 
He  gives  to  scientists  the  place  of  authority 
which  he  used  to  give  to  rulers  in  political 
affairs  and  to  ecclesiastics  in  religious  ques- 
tions. It  is  an  even  more  unquestioning 
authority;  for  he  does  not  even  know  the 
names  of  these  intellectual  leaders,  and  prob- 
ably has  never  come  into  contact  with  one  of 


96  The  New  World 

them.  He  speaks  hopefully  about  the  way  in 
which  "  They  "  are  sure  to  master  the  secrets 
of  Nature.  "It  is  wonderful,"  he  declares, 
"  what  They  are  able  to  do  in  these  days  " — 
"  They  will  soon  construct  a  flying-machine  to 
cross  the  Atlantic."  But  however  vague  and 
indefinite  this  feeling  may  be,  it  is  only  the 
more  proof  of  the  influence  of  science  in  our 
modern  world. 

The  effect  of  it  on  theology  has  been  vast — 
far  more  than  a  change  in  doctrines  ;  for  it  has 
meant  a  change  in  the  whole  foundation.  This 
is  strildngly  seen  in  the  way  in  which  the  great 
Apology  of  Bishop  Butler  and  the  arguments 
of  Paley  are  superseded.  They  are  neither 
affirmed  nor  denied,  but  simply  neglected. 
They  do  not  apply.  To  these  scholars  miracles 
— whether  as  fulfilled  prophecies  or  super- 
natural events — were  the  final,  incontrovertible 
proofs.  The  masterly  argument  built  up  by 
Butler  does  not  affect  the  modern  mind,  be- 
cause a  new  view  of  the  world  has  dislodged 
the  presupposition  on  which  it  was  based. 
With  the  snapping  of  the  foundation  the 
whole  structure  topples  down. 


T'he  Method  of  Science        97 

Belief  in  God  was  largely  founded  on  a  view 
of  the  world  which  meant  the  direct  interven- 
tion of  God  in  creation  and  in  the  possibility 
of  constant  miracle.  Keligion  naturally  built 
on  this,  because  it  was  the  accepted  way  of 
looking  at  the  world.  So  the  proof  of  religion 
began  with  this.  Modern  science,  and  espe- 
cially the  work  of  Darwin,  has  shifted  the 
whole  ground  of  proof,  and  religion  to-day 
never  dreams  of  staking  all  on  the  supernatural 
interposition  of  God.  How  deep  this  has  gone 
we  can  see  by  what  were  common  practices 
and  by  the  common  thoughts  of  devotion.  It 
was  natural  to  pray  for  rain  or  sunshine, 
natural  to  look  upon  an  earthquake,  drought, 
or  plague  as  signs  of  God's  anger.  Miraculous 
healing  from  a  pilgrimage  to  Lourdes  was  an 
all-sufficient  argument  for  the  whole  dogmatic 
teaching  of  the  Roman  Church.  It  is  all  part 
of  the  natural  instinct  of  man,  which  makes 
him  look  up  and  find  God  a  very  present  help 
in  times  of  trouble.  But  we  see  how  many  of 
the  forms,  which  that  instinct  took,  conflict 
with  some  of  the  presuppositions  of  science, 
with  its  assurance  of  law. 


98  The  New  W^orld 

Take,  for  example,  the  presupposition  on 
which  science  builds,  which  may  be  stated 
generally  as  the  law  of  Continuity.  It  will 
not  give  that  up,  because  only  by  it  can  science 
do  its  work.  The  old  explanation  of  a  mys- 
terious thing  as  due  to  God  interfering  with 
the  laws  of  the  universe,  which  was  such  a 
natural  explanation,  is  to  science  the  one 
incredible  thing.  It  will  try  any  and  every 
explanation  before  that,  and  even  if  it  fails, 
will  still  not  accept  that.  Kightly,  for  that 
would  be  to  discredit  the  whole  past  of 
scientific  achievement  and  rob  it  of  any  future. 
Science  does  not  deny  the  mystery.  What  it 
denies  is  the  explanation  of  it  as  a  suspension 
of  law.  It  tries  to  account  for  the  miracle ; 
and  if  it  fails,  lays  it  aside  as  something  yet  to 
be  brought  within  the  sweep  of  natural  law 
and  one  day  explained.  A  miracle  would  evi- 
dence nothing  worth  while.  That  a  man  to  all 
seeming  turned  a  rod  into  a  serpent  would  be 
no  evidence  of  the  truth  of  anything  he  might 
say.  The  act  itself  would  be  treated  as  leger- 
demain, but  even  if  it  could  not  be  so  disposed  of, 
it  would  be  merely  a  new  fact  to  be  considered 


T'he  Method  of  Science       99 

in  the  total  summing-up.     It  would  not  help  to 
establish  any  religious  truth. 

The  method  of  science  has  been  so  successful 
and  has  led  to  such  remarkable  results  in  mas- 
tering nature,  that  all  other  methods  are  cast 
into  the  shade.  Science  to-day  takes  the  place 
in  the  estimation  of  men  that  philosophy  once 
held,  and  triumphant  science  presses  its  method 
on  philosophy  and  on  all  other  departments  of 
knowledge.  With  what  right  ?  "What  justifi- 
cation has  the  claim  that  there  is  indeed  no 
other  method  of  attaining  truth?  Well,  the 
method  of  science  is  only  the  ordinary  method 
of  men,  more  carefully  and  critically  worked. 
It  is  more  anxious  to  get  its  facts  right,  and 
submits  its  conclusions  to  more  rigid  examina- 
tion. Huxley  called  science  organized  com- 
mon sense.  It  is  a  good  definition,  because  it 
brings  science  to  our  doors,  and  does  not  make 
a  mystery  of  what  is  at  bottom  a  very  simple 
thing.  It  suggests  that  science  only  applies 
the  common  way  in  which  the  common  man 
acquires  any  knowledge,  only  guarding  it  more 
carefully  from  error  and  relating  each  fact  to 
the  other  facts. 


100  "The  New  World 

What  are  the  common  methods  by  which 
men  accept  a  thing  as  true  in  ordinary  life  ? 
When  we  declare  that  a  statement  or  proposi- 
tion is  true  we  mean  that  it  agrees  with  facts, 
and  to  assure  ourselves  we  submit  it  to  the  tests 
that  are  open  to  us.  We  apply  our  senses  to  it 
if  it  is  open  to  that  test,  and  we  seek  corrobora- 
tion from  the  testimony  of  others.  If  it  is  a 
question  of  something  that  can  be  seen,  we  ex- 
pect to  be  able  to  see  it  if  we  have  normal 
sight,  and  we  expect  that  others  also  can  see 
it.  If  a  thing  is  declared  to  have  as  a  property 
that  it  is  bitter  or  sweet,  we  taste  it  and  ask 
others  to  conJ3.rm  our  judgment.  If  the  propo- 
sition is  out  of  the  region  of  the  senses,  we  try 
to  bring  it  to  the  test  of  whatever  experience 
is  applicable,  and  we  compare  our  finding  with 
that  of  others.  It  is  thus  at  bottom  always  an 
appeal  to  experience.  We  make  a  distinction 
between  what  we  alone  have  cause  to  believe 
for  ourselves  and  what  others  also  experience, 
even  when  we  believe  both  kinds  of  statements. 

It  does  not  follow  that  an  experience  is  false 
if  it  is  not  corroborated  by  every  one  we  meet. 
In  common  life  we   recognize  this  and  make 


The  Method  of  Science       loi 

allowance  for  difference  of  capacity  in  different 
people.  We  pay  no  heed  to  the  judgment  of 
a  colour-blind  man  on  questions  of  colour,  or  of 
a  tone-deaf  man  on  music.  The  sensation  of 
sound  is  produced  by  vibrations,  and  there  is 
a  definite  range  below  and  above  which  Ave 
cease  to  hear  at  all.  Some  have  keener  sus- 
ceptibility than  others.  Perhaps  only  one  man 
out  of  a  dozen  will  hear  the  shrill  squeak  of 
the  bat.  A  majority  of  eleven  to  one  will  not 
— or  ought  not  to — convince  the  minority  of 
one  that  he  has  heard  no  sound.  We  normally 
hear  through  a  range  of  eleven  octaves,  but 
there  are  thousands  of  octaves  beyond  that. 
Sometimes  a  false  antithesis  is  made  in  this 
connection  between  ordinary  knowledge  and 
religious  knowledge.  These  limitations  of 
knowledge  are  simply  the  limitations  of  hu- 
manity and  apply  to  everything  human. 

In  all  the  branches  of  science— physics, 
chemistry,  and  biology,  and  all  the  subdivisions 
of  these — the  method  is  ever  the  same.  In  a 
word,  the  method  consists  of  observation  and 
experiment  to  find  the  facts,  and  inductive  and 
deductive  reasoning  to  find  the  relations  of  the 


102  The  New  World 

facts.  The  raw  material  of  science  is  facts,  as 
they  are  the  raw  material  of  all  knowledge. 
*'  The  man  in  the  street "  has  his  mind  full  of 
all  sorts  of  facts ;  but  they  are  unconnected 
and  separate.  Prof.  Henry  Drummond  used  to 
give  his  new  students  an  examination  on  what 
he  called  Common  Knowledge  to  test  their 
common  ignorance.  The  kind  of  question  was, 
Why  is  the  sea  salt  ?  or,  Why  is  the  grass  green  ? 
He  was  mistaken  in  calling  that  common 
knowledge.  The  sort  of  facts  that  man  picks 
up  is — that  the  sea  is  salt  and  the  grass  is 
green.  That  is  common  knowledge.  The 
scientist  takes  these  facts  and  relates  them  to 
other  facts.  When  you  know  the  part  which 
chlorophyll  plays  in  intercepting  the  red  rays 
of  light,  in  decomposing  carbon  dioxide  so  as 
to  make  the  grass  green,  you  are  in  the  region 
of  the  science  of  botany.  The  one  is  common 
knowledge,  the  other  is  scientific  knowledge. 

When  facts  have  been  gathered  and  classified 
and  related  so  that  some  finding  is  reached,  it 
has  to  be  submitted  to  other  competent  ob- 
servers or  experimenters.  Just  as  we  saw  that 
in  ordinary  knowledge  men  do  not  feel  sure  of 


The  Method  of  Science      \  03 

anything  unless  they  get  the  support  of  others' 
testimony,  so  in  science  an  experiment  at  Cor- 
nell University  which  could  not  be  verified  at 
Columbia  or  Harvard  or  anywhere  else  would 
be  considered  with  more  than  suspicion.  It 
might  be  true,  but  it  would  not  be  accepted  as 
true,  and  would  not  be  taken  as  a  part  of 
science. 

The  last  stage  is  when  the  verified  and  tested 
facts  find  their  place  in  a  system,  and  are 
brought  under  a  "law."  A  scientific  law  is 
only  a  summary  of  experiments — a  summary 
of  past  experience.  It  is  therefore  a  guide  for 
future  experience.  Science  began  with  the 
rough  classification  of  the  ordinary  things  with 
which  savage  man  had  to  do.  Progress  in 
science  means  simplifying  the  mass  of  facts 
under  formulaD.  The  mind  could  not  hold  all 
the  facts  in  one  department  of  natural  science ; 
still  less  could  the  mind  grasp  at  once  all  the 
relations  of  all  the  departments  which  make 
up  universal  knowledge.  It  is  only  made  pos- 
sible to  us  by  grouping  facts  in  classes,  so  that 
one  fact  becomes  an  illustration  of  all  in  that 
class,  and  is  accepted  as  representative.     These 


104  The  New  IV or  Id 

formulse    are    only  a  description  of  nature's 
order. 

These  usual  stages  are  these :  First  we  have 
to  find  out  facts,  distinguish  between  the  true 
and  the  false,  the  actual  and  the  probable. 
Then  comes  the  process  of  organizing  knowl- 
edge by  classifying  facts.  Last  is  the  summing 
up  in  a  simple  formula  or  law. 

All  science  of  course  begins  with  certain 
postulates — and  once  more  they  may  almost  be 
called  the  postulates  of  common  sense.  It  as- 
sumes the  world,  and  some  other  things  which 
the  ordinary  man  assumes  in  every  action  of 
his  life.  But  there  are  other  specific  assump- 
tions— causation  and  uniformity — the  assump- 
tions that  nothing  in  the  world  happens  with- 
out a  cause,  and  that  a  "  law  of  nature  "  is  true 
for  all  time.  Science  leaves  these  two  things 
to  be  puzzled  over  by  metaphysics,  and  if  pos- 
sible proved.  It  simply  takes  them  for  granted 
and  believes  them  true,  because  when  at  any 
point  they  are  tested  they  seem  to  be  verified. 
This  is  why  science  is  not  afraid  of  hypotheses, 
and   indeed   works   largely   by   means   of  hy- 


"The  Method  of  Science       105 

])otheses,  which  means  the  frank  use  of  the 
scientific  imagination.  The  use  of  the  pure 
Baconian  method  was  found  in  practice  too 
slow  and  laborious.  Practically  all  great  dis- 
coveries have  been  made  by  bringing  the  im- 
agination into  play  and  making  some  hypoth- 
esis to  explain  the  facts. 

Some  of  the  hypotheses  have  been  discarded 
after  doing  good  work  in  aiding  discovery.  It 
has  practically  been  found  that  a  false  or  im- 
perfect hypothesis  is  better  than  none  at  all. 
Some  of  them  were  nothing  but  wild  guesses. 
Some  of  them  have  been  accepted  and  dignified 
by  the  name  of  laws.  Thus,  science  does  not 
limit  itself  to  facts,  as  is  so  often  said.  It  is 
always  going  beyond  facts.  The  one  thing 
that  saves  it  is  that  the  hypothesis  must  always 
be  a  verifiable  one.  Sooner  or  later  it  has  to 
submit  itself  to  facts  and  be  tested  there. 
Science  therefore  is  always  provisional,  be- 
cause always  ready  to  discard  the  less  certain 
for  the  more  certain.  In  this  sense  science  is 
never  dogmatic,  never  reaching  finality,  defin- 
ing even  her  laws  as  merely  the  recognized  way 
in  which  things  are  seen  to  occur.     All  the 


io6  *The  New  ff^orld 

generalizations  of  science  are  merely  probable. 
In  this,  too,  she  is  following  the  common  sense 
of  the  ordinary  man  to  whom  probability  is 
the  guide  of  life. 

There  is  a  criticism  of  science  which  tries  to 
get  room  for  religion  by  making  much  of  this 
tentative  attitude.  These  critics  point  out  that 
science  never  gets  absolute  accuracy,  never  can 
even  repeat  experiments  that  are  identical. 
That  is  a  scholastic  objection,  and  pushed  far 
enough  might  make  for  skepticism.  There  is  a 
sense  in  which  absolute  proof  of  anything  is 
impossible.  Some  have  argued  from  this  for 
skepticism,  and  have  declared  that  the  uncer- 
tainty of  proof  makes  knowledge  impossible. 
The  reply  of  science  is  simply  a  paraphrase  of 
the  Master's  reply  to  the  disciples  of  John  the 
Baptist,  "Tell  what  things  ye  have  seen  and 
heard."  By  this  we  construct  our  system  of 
scientific  knowledge  with  consistency.  We 
also  by  it  build  our  bridges  and  tunnels,  and 
speak  a  thousand  miles,  and  transmit  power 
for  locomotion,  and  discover  radio-activity  and 
X-rays,  and  do  all  the  wonderful  works.  What 
a  list  one  could  make  of  triumph,  in  medicine, 


The  Method  of  Science       107 

and  surgery,  and  astronomy,  and  chemistry, 
and  electrical  appliances ! 

Whatever  be  the  right  way  to  find  a  place 
for  religion,  it  is  not  by  searching  for  gaps  in 
scientific  knowledge  or  method,  and  sensing  a 
spiritual  world  through  loopholes.  That  has 
been  too  long  the  way  of  escape  for  religion. 
Beaten  here  in  the  question  of  a  sudden  crea- 
tion of  the  world,  it  stood  at  bay  on  the  ques- 
tion of  a  special  creation  of  species.  Beaten 
on  that,  it  found  a  loophole  in  the  peculiar 
high  origin  of  man.  Dislodged  from  that,  it 
stood  for  the  miracle  of  life.  Generally,  it  has 
made  much  of  "  missing  links  "  in  the  chain  of 
scientific  discovery.  It  is  a  futile  method,  and 
for  one  thing  does  not  make  for  courage.  It  is 
of  a  piece  with  the  lawyer's  advice,  "  when  you 
have  no  case,  abuse  the  plaintiff."  One  by 
one  the  gaps  are  closed,  and  the  loopholes  get 
filled  up. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  method  of  science 
is  regnant  among  men,  who  look  at  its  triumphs 
and  see  how  surely  it  closes  up  the  gaps  in 
knowledge?     When    philosophy    protests,    it 


io8  "The  New  World 

calmly  replies,  Well,  if  you  want  to  live,  you 
had  better  amend  your  methods  also  and  make 
them  scientific.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  philoso- 
phy has  been  slower  to  adjust  itself  to  the  new 
standpoint  than  almost  any  other  branch  of 
thought.  All  the  sciences,  the  study  of  his- 
tory, even  theology  (with  its  new  insistence 
on  experience),  have  more  quickly  altered  their 
method  than  philosophy.  Philosophers  still 
begin,  in  spite  of  evolution,  with  categories  of 
thought,  with  conceptions  of  man  and  the 
world  viewed  in  idealistic  form,  with  ideas  of 
the  absolute,  with  the  objective  validity  of  the 
moral  consciousness,  with  Kant's  "thing  in 
itself"  or  with  Plato's  "idea  of  the  good." 
They  use  the  word  evolution  and  even  the 
method,  but  they  have  not  begun  to  accept  all 
the  implications  of  evolution. 

Much  of  our  thought  is  still  cast  in  pre-evo- 
lutionary  form.  It  takes  long  to  bring  our 
general  thinking  into  harmony  with  the  results 
of  new  knowledge.  The  nature  of  mind  itself  is 
a  subject  which  has  been  largely  left  where  it 
was,  and  we  find  controversialists  on  both  sides 
arguing  as  if  the  idea  of  evolution  had  never 


T*he  Method  of  Science      109 

dawned  on  the  world.  The  human  mmd  is 
treated  as  something  structural  that  grinds  out 
thought  like  a  machine,  which  is  fed  by  the 
raw  material  and  pours  out  the  finished  prod- 
uct. On  the  side  of  materialism  this  antique 
view  is  constantly  stated  that  the  brain  secretes 
thought.  One  German  philosopher  of  that 
school  declares  that  thinking  is  a  necessary 
and  inseparable  property  of  the  brain.  An- 
other, with  a  half-apology  for  expressing  him- 
self somewhat  coarsely,  says  that  thought 
stands  in  the  same  relation  to  the  brain  as 
the  gall  to  the  liver  or  the  urine  to  the 
kidneys.  This  point  of  view  is  opposed  by 
the  opposite  school,  who,  however,  have  the 
same  underlying  conception  of  thought  as 
something  definite,  the  product  of  an  organ 
called  mind.  There  is  no  human  mechanism 
for  producing  thought  like  a  machine  pro- 
ducing sausages.  It  is  a  social  inheritance. 
We  need  a  genetic  conception  <\i  mind  to  re- 
place the  old  structural  concept. 

In  a  halting,  hesitating  way  philosophy  is  at 
last  trying  to  follow  the  method  of  science.  Our 
new  psychology  and  our  new  sociology  were 


no  The  New  World 

born  of  this  attempt.  When  I  was  at  college, 
psychology  was  taught  as  a  by-product  of  meta- 
physics and  a  rather  unimportant  one  at  that. 
To-day  it  is  taught  as  a  science,  gathering  its 
facts,  collating  and  classifying  and  relating 
them,  and  constructing  hypotheses  to  bring 
them  under  laws.  This  scientific  pressure  also 
is  really  responsible  for  movements  like  Prag- 
matism and  the  new  Kealism.  Sometimes  phi- 
losophers of  other  schools  permit  themselves  to 
sneer  at  the  pragmatists  as  unphilosophical,  as 
incapable  of  the  higher  thoughts  and  great  ab- 
stractions which  have  occupied  orthodox  phi- 
losophy. It  is  rather  pleasant  for  once  to  notice 
how  orthodoxy  treats  heresy  in  another  region 
than  that  of  theology.  At  bottom  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  method,  and  philosophy  like  other  things 
must  sooner  or  later  submit  to  scientific  method. 

There  are  regions  of  knowledge  other  than 
bare  matters  of  fact.  There  is,  for  example, 
the  whole  world  of  the  beautiful.  Physical 
science  admits  that  all  it  can  do  is  to  describe 
a  part  of  reality,  that  it  can  give  only  an  in- 
stallment of  truth.     "We  do  not  describe  all  the 


The  Method  of  Science 


111 


reality  of  which  we  are  conscious  if  we  do  not 
give  an  account  of  the  regions  where  the  facts 
are  summed  up  by  words  like  beauty,  and  good- 
ness, and  justice,  and  righteousness.  We  may 
call  these  ideals  if  we  will,  but  that  does  not 
make  them  any  the  less  real.  An  ideal  of 
beauty  or  of  goodness  is  governed  by  the  same 
method.  It  is  born  of  experience,  and  is  sub- 
mitted to  the  judgment  of  our  fellows  and  to 
the  test  of  practice. 

These  estimates  of  value  make  up  the  most 
important  part  of  human  life.  There  is  this 
about  them,  that  they  seek  to  realize  them- 
selves. An  ideal  of  social  reform  strives  to 
embody  itself  in  law  and  in  institution.  The 
test  of  its  truth  is  precisely  the  same  as  in  its 
own  sphere  is  the  test  of  any  scientific  hypoth- 
esis: Is  it  a  genuine  experience?  Can  any 
others  be  made  to  see  it  and  know  it  ?  Can  it 
impose  itself  on  the  facts  ?  It  lives  by  faith 
that  it  can. 

If  we  must  make  distinctions,  science  deals 
with  what  has  been  and  is ;  religion  deals  with 
what  is  to  be.  Science  is  descriptive ;  religion 
is  prophetic.     Like  most  distinctions,  this  has 


1  12 


The  New  W^orld 


too  sharp  lines ;  for  science  often  predicts,  and 
religion  does  not  live  entirely  in  the  future. 
But  the  distinction  has  point  to  it.  To  a  large 
extent  science  describes  processes,  and  knows  a 
thing  by  its  natural  history,  and  states  what  it 
is.  Eeligion  seeks  to  find  out  what  ought  to 
be,  and  then  strives  to  bring  it  to  pass.  You 
cannot  explain  a  picture  by  the  chemistry  of 
colours.  You  cannot  explain  a  poem  by  an 
analysis  of  words  and  rhymes.  You  do  not 
account  for  Michelangelo's  statues  by  his 
studies  in  physiology.  The  limits  of  science 
are  not  limits  of  its  methods,  but  limits  of  its 
sphere.  Science  and  religion  deal  with  the 
same  world,  but  they  ask  a  different  kind  of 
question  about  it,  and  are  satisfied  only  by  a 
different  kind  of  answer.  Science  searches  for 
means  to  learn  adequately  the  natural  order  in 
which  w^e  men  live.  Keligion  searches  for 
means  to  fulfill  ^vhat  she  conceives  to  be  the 
true  destiny  of  man. 

In  this,  religion  uses  the  very  method  which 
science  also  employs.  Natural  religion  used  to 
speak  of  rising  from  nature  to  nature's  God. 
It  had  some  difficulty  to  meet,  as  when  the 


The  Method  of  Science      1 13 

poet  in  describing  nature  speaks  of  her  as  "  red 
in  tooth  and  claw."  But  the  Christian  does 
not  get  his  God  from  nature.  He  brings  his 
God  to  nature.  He  finds  God  in  Christ,  and 
in  human  life,  in  his  own  heart,  and  in  social 
experience.  He  interprets  nature  in  the  light 
of  that.  All  interpretation  is  done,  and  has  to 
be  done,  in  the  same  way.  In  every  region  we 
do  it  by  what  we  bring  to  it,  not  by  what  it  is 
in  itself.     It  is  not  anything  in  itself. 

This  is  true  of  art,  for  example.  Much  un- 
meaning nonsense  is  spoken  about  art  copying 
nature.  Of  course  it  has  to  copy  nature  and 
submit  the  finished  result  to  the  test  of  nature, 
but  the  artist  is  an  artist  by  virtue  of  what  he 
brings  to  nature.  He  brings  his  selection  of 
material,  his  thought,  and  vision,  his  arrange- 
ment. Photography  could  do  the  job  better, 
if  it  was  only  nature's  arrangement  that 
counted  most.  The  artist  imposes  his  own 
ideal  on  nature,  and  interprets  it  best  because 
of  that. 

Science  also  does  its  work  in  a  similar  way. 
The  scientist  brings  to  nature  the  whole  foun- 
dation on  which  he  builds.     He  too  selects  and 


114  The  New  World 

arranges,  and,  what  is  more,  he  isolates  his 
facts,  takes  them  out  of  their  setting.  He 
"  unscrambles  eggs  "  all  the  time,  in  the  effort 
to  get  at  the  constituent  elements  of  the  mix- 
ture. He  puts  things  under  a  vacuum  pump, 
or  under  a  microscope,  or  in  a  test-tube.  He 
even  brings  them  into  the  most  artificial  condi- 
tions, into  a  laboratory.  He  applies  to  them 
his  theories  and  hypotheses.  It  is  not  all  guess 
and  perad venture.  If  it  did  not  meet  the  ne- 
cessities of  the  case  and  solve  particular  prob- 
lems, men  would  lose  confidence  in  scientific 
method. 

Similarly  with  religion.  It  too  must  meet 
the  needs  of  man.  It  must  give  him  the  mas- 
tery over  the  world,  and  over  life,  and  over 
self.  By  the  measure  in  which  it  does  that,  it 
is  judged.  The  proof  of  religion  is  found  not 
in  finding  breaks  in  the  natural  order,  but  in 
transforming  the  world.  "  This  is  the  victory 
that  overcometh  the  world,  even  your  faith." 

Knowledge  is  one,  and  though  for  conve- 
nience' sake  we  can  make  divisions  and  break  it 
up  into  departments,  there  is  always  seen  a 
certain  unity  of  direction.     So  to-day  there  are 


The  Method  of  Science       1 15 

movements  in  the  three  great  departments  of 
human  thought — science,  philosophy,  religion — 
which  have  much  in  common.  In  science  the 
mechanical  view  of  the  world  has  broken  down, 
and  a  new  interpretation  emerges  in  terms  of 
growth.  In  philosophy  there  is  an  impatience 
with  the  old  categories  and  abstractions,  and  a 
rebirth  in  experience.  In  theology  God  is  no 
longer  thought  of  as  outside  the  world  He  has 
created,  and  once  more  the  emphasis  comes  on 
experience. 

To  come  back  to  the  fairies — poetry  and 
romance  and  mystery  and  the  ideal  have  not 
left  the  world.  It  was  a  narrow  science  that 
appeared  to  be  crushing  the  soul  of  man  and 
taking  the  dread  rainbow  from  the  sky.  A 
truer  view  of  what  the  method  of  science  really 
is  only  shows  us  how  we  may  get  back  the 
things  for  which  the  fairies  stood.  "  Glory 
and  loveliness  have  passed  away,"  cried  Keats. 
That  might  be  true  if  the  last  word  about 
nature  were  said  when  we  agreed  that  the  sum 
of  energy  is  constant,  or  that  natural  forces  are 
interchangeable.     There  are  some  other  words 


ii6  The  New  World 

to  be  said  about  nature  besides  these,  and  the 
poet  need  not  be  afraid  to  say  them,  nor  need 
the  religious  seer  be  afraid  to  picture  his  new 
earth  and  new  heavens  wherein  dwelleth  right- 
eousness. 


V 
The  Movement  of  Democracy 


In  this  open  democracy  every  opinion  had  utter- 
ance ;  every  objection,  every  fact,  every  acre  of 
land,  every  bushel  of  rye,  its  entire  weight. 

— Emerson, 


THE  MOVEMENT  OF  DEMOCRACY 


ERHAPS  the  greatest  influence 
on  life  and  thought  in  the 
world  to-day  is  the  democratic 
movement.  Its  effect  on  re- 
ligion calls  for  some  estimate. 
In  this  chapter  I  feel  that  I  can  do  little  more 
than  open  the  subject,  and  express  some  of  my 
convictions  and  hopes  about  it.  The  chief  dif- 
ficulty lies  in  the  fact  that  we  must  speak  of  a 
movement^  of  whose  result  we  are  ignorant,  and 
whose  goal  we  can  only  guess.  It  is  probably 
impossible  for  one  in  the  game  to  see  the  whole 
of  it.  Only  the  spectator  can  have  the  chance 
of  that,  and  to  be  a  spectator  one  must  be 
somewhat  removed. 

We  talk  of  our  time  as  one  of  transition.  It 
is  not  unique  in  that,  but  certainly  we  are  in 
the  midst  of  change.     As  we  have  seen,  three 

forces  which  have  been  compelling  change  in 

119 


120  The  New  World 

the  region  of  religion  are  the  critical  move- 
ment, the  scientific  and  the  democratic.  We 
have  to  some  extent  estimated  the  results  of  the 
first  two,  and  have  seen  the  direction  of  adjust- 
ment. We  see  more  or  less  keenly  what  they 
are  doing  in  affecting  our  material,  and  we  have 
shaped  our  course  accordingly.  We  know  we 
cannot  state  doctrine  as  our  fathers  did,  nor 
derive  doctrine  from  the  sources  in  the  same 
way.  As  for  the  third  great  influence,  we  feel 
it  and  we  vaguely  realize  that  it  spells  change, 
but  we  have  not  made  any  estimate.  We  do 
not  even  know  the  price  of  indemnity. 

Some  there  are  who  believe  in  the  ultimate 
future ;  for  their  souls  know  things  that  cannot 
be  shaken,  but  who  are  fearful  of  the  actual 
process  of  change.  They  feel  themselves  in  the 
presence  of  a  force  that  cannot  be  calculated. 
For  good  or  ill,  or  both,  the  people  have  entered 
into  power  after  centuries  of  comparative  im- 
potence. Ultimate  authority  is  passing  from 
the  few  to  the  man3^  The  philosophical  ob- 
server, whatever  his  own  taste  may  be,  must 
confess  that  democracy  is  the  next  necessary 
stage  in  the  evolution  of  human  society. 


T'he  Movement  of  Democracy  121 

The  progress  of  civilization  has  been  through 
the  conquest  of  nature  and  the  growth  of  the 
social  order.  The  one  was  not  possible  with- 
out the  other.  It  has  meant  not  only  increase 
of  sustenance,  but  also  of  security.  With  the 
means  of  living  made  more  abundant  by  con- 
quering nature,  and  with  security  achieved 
through  social  order,  there  has  come  the  pos- 
sibility of  leisure  with  all  that  leisure  can  mean 
of  knowledge  and  culture.  After  the  where- 
withal to  live,  civilization  means  these  very 
blessings  of  security,  leisure  and  culture. 
Hitherto  these  have  only  to  any  extent  been 
the  possession  of  the  very  few.  Democracy 
is  not  content  to  leave  it  so  any  more.  Soon 
it  will  not  be  possible  to  frighten  people  with 
the  scarecrow  of  socialism.  If  you  tell  them 
this  is  socialism,  they  will  reply  that  if  social- 
ism gives  them  the  hope  of  attaining  these 
ideals  they  will  try  socialism  ! 

The  first  place  where  we  need  something 
like  a  definition  is  what  we  mean  by  de- 
mocracy. If  we  could  give  a  scientific  defini- 
tion, we  could  proceed  to  predict  with  some- 


122  T'he  New  World 

tiling  like  mathematical  accuracy  some  of  the 
results,  but  that  kind  of  definition  is  impossible. 
All  the  sciences  dealing  with  man  have  two 
places  for  correction,  even  of  observation.  If 
you  are  examining  the  stars  through  a  tele- 
scope you  must  always  make  allowance  for 
your  own  personal  equation.  But  if  you  are 
examining  man,  either  single  or  in  society, 
you  have  to  take  into  account  not  only  the 
personal  equation  of  you  the  observer,  but 
also  the  personal  equation  of  the  observed.  It 
is  like  shooting  from  a  moving  platform  to  a 
moving  target.  You  can't  always  tell  how 
you  will  act  in  a  certain  given  situation,  even 
though  you  know  your  own  personal  equation, 
your  own  bias  of  mind.  Still  less  can  you  tell 
what  the  other  fellow  will  do. 

The  democratic  movement  is  a  human  move- 
ment, and  there  are  vagaries  and  freaks  and 
there  w^ill  be  side-issues  and  stoppages.  Some- 
times it  will  look  like  a  glacier,  but  even  a 
glacier  moves,  and  when  it  gets  to  the  melting 
zone  it  flows.  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the 
democratic  movement  because  it  is  often  blind, 
does  not  know  itself  always  what  it   wants, 


The  Movement  of  Democracy  1 23 

and  is  driven  by  blind  needs  and  blind  ideals. 
It  is  also  to  a  large  extent  dumb  in  spite  of  the 
blatant  noises ;  for  in  speaking  of  it  we  are 
trying  to  speak  for  the  voiceless  mass.  Better 
than  any  definition  of  it  is  a  recognition  of  its 
ends.  What  it  is  really  wanting?  Towards 
what  is  it  striving  ? 

I  suppose  there  are  various  brands  of  de- 
mocracy, some  of  thera  with  conflicting  ideas, 
and  some  opposition  to  it  is  due  to  misunder- 
standing of  its  character,  as  some  opposition  to 
religion  is  due  to  similar  misunderstanding. 
To  some  opponents  it  means  an  attempt  to 
drag  all  men  down  to  a  dead  level,  to  settle  all 
questions  by  the  counting  of  noses,  to  destroy 
initiative  and  originality,  and  to  swamp  the 
individual.  AYell,  of  course,  the  indictment 
may  seem  to  be  true  if  we  admit  that  a  com- 
plete democratic  organization  of  society  will 
effectually  curb  some  presently  rampant  traits 
of  individualism.  Most  of  us  will  think  this 
can  be  done  without  much  real  loss  to  the 
world.  Even  it  may  be  that  some  who  speak 
for  democracy  appear  to  look  forward  to  a 
state  where  we  shall  be  numbered  and  garbed 


124  The  New  World 

and  fed  and  ordered  like  the  inmates  of  an 
asylum.  If  the  world  is  incurably  mad,  that 
may  be  the  best  way  of  treating  us,  and  the 
only  question  worth  asking  is,  Quis  custodiet 
ipsos  Gustodesf  Who  will  guard  the  guard- 
ians ? 

But  the  only  democracy  I  am  interested  in, 
and  I  believe  the  only  kind  the  democracy 
cares  about,  is  that  which  looks  forward  to  a 
world  of  perso7is,  each  with  equal  right  and 
opportunity  to  be  and  become  all  that  true 
manhood  may  mean.  It  looks  to  a  social  state 
where  each  member  will  be  guaranteed  a  chance 
to  make  the  contribution  of  his  complete  self. 
Instead  of  being  the  end  of  the  individual,  it 
will  really  be  his  true  beginning.  The  ideal 
to  which  the  movement  looks  is  the  Kingdom 
of  God.  That  is  why  it  cannot  do  without 
reliction.  The  hio-hest  Christian  motive  is 
necessary  for  its  full  attainment.  I  must 
concede  willingly,  joyfully,  that  if  reason- 
able leisure,  culture,  opportunity  of  education 
are  good  for  me,  they  are  good  for  Tom,  Dick 
and  Harry.  I  must  be  eager  to  grant  to  others 
all  that  I  claim  for  myself. 


The  Movement  of  Democracy  125 

The  movements  of  an  age,  however  diverse 
they  appear,  really  converge  and  seem  to  be 
the  varied  expressions  of  one  spirit  of  the  age. 
This  is  true  of  the  three  movements  we  see  at 
work  in  our  own  time.  It  is  not  difficult  to 
see  the  connection  between  the  critical  and  the 
scientific  spirit.  They  began  independently; 
for  there  was  a  literary  criticism  of  the  Bible 
before  modern  science  came  on  the  scene,  and 
science  was  not  thinking  of  its  effects  on  criti- 
cism when  it  set  about  its  work.  Yet  the 
two  forces  really  work  by  the  same  principles, 
and  meet  in  their  findings.  The  connection 
between  these  and  the  democratic  movement 
does  not  seem  so  evident,  and  yet  here  too  we 
see  them  reaching  the  same  end.  Of  the  three 
this  is  by  far  the  most  powerful  for  change. 
This  should  comfort  and  encourage  us.  Truth 
has  driven  scholars  to  certain  conclusions,  for 
example,  about  the  Bible  and  about  the  historic 
creeds.  Sometimes  we  have  felt  in  despair 
of  making  good  people  understand.  In  the 
churches  many  excellent  ministers  have  con- 
scientiously opposed  us,  and  have  bitterly 
denounced  us  as  subverting  the  foundations  of 


126  "The  New  World 

religion.  They  do  not  seem  to  be  able  to  see 
the  force  of  our  arguments,  which  are  naturally 
scholarly  arguments.  They  have  fallen  back 
on  the  authority  of  Scripture,  or  the  authority 
of  the  Church.  And  sometimes  we  have  de- 
spaired of  making  headway  against  prejudice. 
Now  the  democratic  movement  has  turned  their 
flank,  and  before  they  can  rub  their  eyes  in 
astonishment  the  position  has  been  evacuated. 
There  are  loads  of  men,  who  discover  that  they 
are  really  standing  beside  us,  who  thought  they 
and  we  were  in  opposing  ranks. 

The  democratic  movement  has  altered  the 
emphasis  in  the  precise  way  and  in  the  precise 
places  where  criticism  had  done  it — and  far 
more  effectually,  since  it  works  practically 
where  the  other  worked  intellectually.  Men 
alert  to  the  new  emphasis  on  the  social  teach- 
ing of  Jesus  are  impatient  of  some  of  the 
positions  which  made  critics  impatient.  Some- 
times they  do  not  know  that  they  have  really 
changed  ground,  but  it  is  obvious  by  their 
changed  emphasis.  The  battle  has  been  fought 
and  won,  but  the  victory  has  been  secured  not 
by  us  but  for  us.     This  then  is  the  first  great 


The  Movement  of  Democracy  127 

influence  of  the  democratic  movement  on  our 
whole  religious  thinking  of  which  we  ought  to 
take  count.  It  is  by  far  the  most  effective 
ally  for  the  position  reached  by  our  critical 
and  scientific  methods.  It  is  forcing  the 
Church  to  consider  the  whole  question  of 
authority. 

Indeed,  in  that  one  word  authority  we  can 
almost  sum  up  the  whole  process  of  change. 
Democracy  has  "  made  hay  "  of  old  forms  of 
authority.  Hitherto  in  our  theology  authority 
came  from  above  and  was  imposed  by  sacred 
sanctions,  as  society  was  held  by  external  au- 
thority. Law,  order,  government  were  done 
for  us.  Democracy  is  changing  that,  and  our 
whole  thinking  must  be  adjusted  to  find  a  new 
basis  for  authority. 

Let  us  take  the  changed  view  of  law  as 
illustration.  At  first,  the  change  seems  to 
relax  its  binding  authority  and  take  away 
from  its  sanctions.  Men  do  not  think  of  the 
sacredness  of  law  in  the  old  sense,  which 
really  looked  upon  law  as  supernatural,  given 
straight  from  God  to  the  lawgiver.    The  only 


128  "The  New  World 


thing  man  could  do  to  that  kind  of  law  would 
be  to  interpret  it,  he  could  not  change  it  or 
repeal  it.  We  see  law  to  have  grown  out  of 
the  needs  of  life,  and  to  have  changed  with 
changing  conditions.  Certain  laws,  some  of 
which  we  call  the  moral  laws,  are  so  ancient 
and  are  so  imbedded  in  immemorial  usage  that 
they  may  well  be  called  sacred.  Society  itself 
as  we  know  it  depends  on  these  laws,  and 
would  go  to  pieces  without  them.  They  are 
thus  of  the  nature  of  social  man,  based  on 
fundamental  principles.  Thou  shalt  not  com- 
mit adultery,  thou  shalt  not  steal,  thou  shalt 
not  kill — society  rests  on  certain  rules  of  con- 
duct and  these  naturally  take  on  a  sanctity 
which  is  not  less  to-day  than  in  previous  days. 
Such  laws  have  really  lost  none  of  their  force 
if  we  see  them  to  be  necessary  for  life,  even  if 
men  believe  that  they  did  not  come  down  ready- 
made  from  heaven.  There  is  real  sanctity  in 
the  principles  which  alone  seem  to  make  so- 
ciety possible. 

Other  laws  we  see  society  making,  and  un- 
making, and  remaking.  There  are  taxation 
laws  for  the  carrying  on  of  government  and 


The  Movement  of  Democracy  129 

for  the  protection  of  the  community.  Some 
laws  are  for  the  general  Avelfare,  laws  of  public 
health  ;  some  are  for  the  care  of  the  weak,  the 
education  of  the  young,  the  protection  of 
women  and  children  in  industry.  They  often 
work  by  limiting  individual  freedom,  reducing 
hours  of  work,  prohibiting  the  sale  of  certain 
things,  or  conditioning  the  sale  of  other  things. 
Some  laws  are  the  fruit  of  ideals  that  are  grow- 
ing in  the  social  mind,  edicts  against  gambling, 
against  offenses  that  were  thought  nothing  of 
by  our  fathers.  There  is  an  experimental  ele- 
ment in  all  such  lawmaking.  Many  laws  are 
found  to  be  mistaken,  and  are  repealed  or  are 
altered  to  meet  the  case  better.  Laws  which 
are  passed  for  the  benefit  of  the  public  health 
may  be  seen  to  have  diagnosed  the  condition 
wrongly. 

The  people  see  quite  plainly  that  there  is 
nothing  sacred  about  these  laws.  There  is  a 
legal  type  of  mind  which  is  greatly  impressed 
by  words  like  "  constitutional  "  and  "  the  code 
of  law,"  and  gives  an  undue  sanctity  to  enact- 
ments. But  we  realize  that  we  manufacture 
these  laws,  that  sometimes  they  were  carried 


130  The  New  World 

through  by  a  bare  majority,  that  often  lawyers 
themselves  differ  about  the  interpretation  ;  that 
one  court  will  set  aside  the  finding  of  another 
court.  There  is  nothing  sacred  about  vaccina- 
tion. We  want  to  know  if  it  does  what  it 
claims  to  do,  and  so  we  ask  for  scientific  evi- 
dence and  experimental  evidence.  When  most 
sensible  men  get  that,  they  are  content  to  be- 
lieve that  the  law  is  wise.  Formerly  the  law 
was  something  imposed  from  without,  from 
above,  enacted  by  authority  to  be  received 
with  due  humility,  and  obeyed  with  trembling. 
Any  criticism  was  blasphemy  of  the  powers 
that  be,  lese-majeste.  We  may  as  well  admit 
that  all  this  has  changed.  The  democracy  as 
sumes  the  right  of  criticizing  the  law  ;  for  it 
realizes  that  it  is  the  ultimate  lawmaker. 

There  is  danger,  of  course,  in  the  new  atti- 
tude. The  criticism  is  not  always  intelligent 
nor  always  just.  Minorities  display  impa- 
tience, and  sometimes  are  willing  to  break 
down  respect  for  the  law  in  their  haste  to  have 
a  particular  edict  abrogated.  The  conventional 
sanctity  that  hedged  around  the  w^hole  legal 
code  has  gone,  and  sometimes  the  reverence 


The  Movement  of  Democracy  131 

that  was  a  distinct  social  gain  is  lost  with  it. 
The  remedy,  however,  is  not  to  hark  back  to 
an  old-world  view  of  law,  but  to  bring  a  new 
binding  force  which  democracy  itself  can  give. 
Law  was  made  for  man,  and  not  man  for  law. 
The  more  fundamental  social  our  thinking  be- 
comes, the  more  we  see  a  new  sanction  for 
social  enactments.  If  laws  are  of  our  own 
making  and  if  we  seek  to  make  them  the  ex- 
pression of  the  highest  justice  and  humanity, 
we  will  not  look  on  them  lightly  but  will  view 
them  with  all  the  reverence  they  need. 

Other  questions  emerge  in  this  connection, 
such  as  the  question  of  force  in  applying  law. 
That  society  has  the  right  to  use  force  to  pro- 
tect itself,  to  defend  the  weak,  all  sensible  men 
will  admit.  The  motive  must  not  be  hate  or 
revenge.  Tolstoy's  doctrine  that  we  must  not 
resist  evil  is  cursed  with  literalism.  That  is 
precisely  what  we  must  do  with  evil — till  it  is 
rooted  out.  The  doctrine,  however,  did  good 
in  bringing  us  to  the  motive  which  should  un- 
derlie our  resistance.  Too  often  it  was  revenge, 
which  only  brutalizes.  Democracy  is  not  pos- 
sible except  as  the  expression  of  a  spirit  of  good 


132  The' New  World 

will.  This  true  democratic  principle  gives  us 
a  way  out.  Men  are  coming  to  see  that  evil 
social  conditions  and  hard  economic  conditions 
create  crime,  and  that  an  ounce  of  prevention 
is  worth  a  ton  of  cure.  Education,  more  hu- 
mane treatment,  more  tolerable  conditions,  will 
obviate  a  lot  of  what  we  now  call  crime.  It 
has  been  proved  a  hundred  times  that  much 
crime  is  caused  by  intemperance  and,  as  things 
now  are,  society  sprinkles  saloons  in  the  path 
of  the  multitude,  or  in  a  panic  now  and  again 
in  spots  "  puts  on  the  lid "  and  shuts  the 
saloons,  without  offering  any  substitute  for  the 
social  features  of  the  saloons. 

The  whole  purpose  of  punishment  also  is  re- 
ceiving revised  consideration.  What  is  its  first 
and  chief  intent  ?  Is  it  to  avenge  the  wounded 
majesty  of  law  ?  That  tends  to  become  savage 
and  merciless.  Obviously  with  the  new  view- 
point about  law  itself  that  conception  of  the 
function  of  punishment  departs,  and  with  it 
will  go  all  juridical  theology,  juridical  atone- 
ment. 

Is    the  purpose  of    punishment  to  protect 


T^he  Movement  of  Democracy  133 

society  as  the  old  English  judge  in  sentenciiig 
to  death  a  horse  stealer  declared,  "  You  are  sen- 
tenced to  be  hung  by  the  neck  until  you  are 
dead,  not  for  stealing  horses  but  that  horses 
may  not  be  stolen."  That  motive  tends  to  be- 
come selfish  and  cruel  with  the  timid  cruelty  of 
fear,  and  as  Kuskin  says  somewhere,  it  is  to 
hang  a  man  not  as  a  malefactor  but  as  a  scare- 
crow. 

Is  the  purpose  to  correct  and  restore  the  cul- 
prit ?  Well,  we  must  acknowledge  that  that 
may  become  weak  and  sentimental  and  some- 
times stultify  itself.  That,  however,  is  the 
point  of  view  which  is  growing  and  is  altering 
our  whole  penology.  It  is  the  motive  most 
worth  while  pursuing.  It  will  sweep  away 
some  of  the  barbarities  and  stupidities  of  much 
of  our  penal  code.  The  sooner  men  realize  that 
they  make  the  laws,  the  sooner  they  will  see  it 
a  point  of  honour  to  keep  them.  There  still 
lingers  even  in  a  democracy  the  old  idea  that 
laws  are  made  by  a  superior  class  and  are  ad- 
ministered against  other  classes  of  the  com- 
munity. When  penalties  are  recognized  as 
punishment    for    unsocial  acts,  even  the  law- 


134  The  New  World 

breakers  will  admit  the  justice.  They  will  feel 
that  the  social  disgrace  is  the  real  sting  of  the 
penalty.  Only  for  this  there  must  not  be  the 
glaring  inequalities  that  now  exist,  which  allow 
the  rich  rogue  to  do  what  the  little  swindler 
must  not. 

Already  in  this  vague  way  we  are  seeing  the 
immense  region  of  change.  But  besides  alter- 
ing the  whole  basis  of  authority  and  giving  a 
changed  view  of  law,  making  all  the  doctrines 
founded  on  law  antiquated,  such  as  a  forensic 
atonement,  forensic  forgiveness,  and  besides 
altering  the  view  of  punishment  with  the 
inevitable  changes  in  all  the  doctrines  affected 
in  this  region,  the  democratic  movement  is  alter- 
ing values  in  the  whole  sphere  of  ethics.  I  do 
not  stop  to  indicate  what  is  so  evident  as  the 
new  emphasis  on  social  ethics  and  social  re- 
sponsibility. Nor  do  I  spend  time  on  an 
analysis  of  the  new  temper  of  mind  which 
makes  the  people  resent  charity  (even  when 
they  take  it)  and  ask  for  justice.  The  old 
charter  of  America  which  demanded  "  life, 
liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  "  was  con- 


The  Movement  of  Democracy  13; 

strued  in  a  personal  way.  The  same  words  can 
still  be  used  as  the  ideal  of  the  new  democracy, 
but  this  time  construed  as  the  inalienable  rights 
of  the  society. 

Further,  with  the  whole  democratization  of 
knowledge  there  has  come  a  new  necessity  to 
appeal  to  the  people  with  all  our  thinking. 
Christianity  cannot  be  maintained  as  an  esoteric 
faith.  The  questions  are  not  such  as  can  be 
relegated  to  the  scholar.  The  doctrine  of 
Jesus  has  always  made  its  real  appeal  direct 
to  the  heart  of  the  people.  Difficult  problems 
of  literary  criticism  and  historical  investigation 
and  philosophical  statement  there  are  in  plenty, 
and  an  ample  place  is  afforded  for  all  manner 
of  erudition.  But  religion  itself  is  not  erudi- 
tion. In  the  Christian  system  there  can  be 
nothing  too  difficult  or  too  precious  that  it  must 
be  kept  from  the  multitude.  The  common  man 
has  his  life  to  live,  and  has  the  things  that  be- 
long to  his  peace.  It  has  been  found  too  that 
the  common  man  has  often  been  the  uncommon 
Christian.  It  comes  to  this  that  the  doctrine 
which  cannot  be  preached  is  not  Christian  doc- 
trine. 


136  The  New  World 

Deej)er  still,  the  democratic  movement  has 
affected  the  central  doctrine  of  all,  the  doctrine 
of  God.  In  the  old  theology  God  was  the 
sovereign  of  a  monarchical  system,  the  despot 
of  heaven,  though  a  benevolent  despot.  Theol- 
ogy spoke  of  His  prerogatives.  Law  was  His 
will.  Salvation  was  His  fiat  as  creation  had 
been.  "  God  said.  Let  there  be  light,  and  there 
was  light."  It  was  all  as  easy  and  as  simple  as 
that.  We  have  not  yet  worked  out  all  the  im- 
plications of  a  democratic  doctrine  here.  But 
there  are  obvious  indications  of  the  working  of 
the  leaven.  Even  the  philosophy  which  arrives 
at  a  pluralistic  universe  is  the  fruit  of  the 
democratic  movement.  We  have  to  state  our 
doctrine  of  God  in  terms  of  democracy. 
Should  that  be  very  difficult  for  us,  Avho  be- 
lieve in  the  God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ? 

The  truth  is  that  democracy  is  driving  the 
Church  back  to  a  closer  touch  with  its  Master's 
ideal.  It  is  obvious  that  the  social  teaching  of 
Jesus  was  not  something  added,  but  was  the 
very  burden  of  His  message.  He  conceived  of 
His  mission  as  a  social  task.  Salvation  is  re- 
lated to  the  Kingdom  of  God  as  a  society  of 


The  Move?nent  of  Democracy  137 

saved  men.  The  teaching  it  is  true  is  never 
left  in  the  clouds,  but  is  addressed  to  individu- 
als. So  there  are  these  two  complementary 
truths,  one  of  which  is  usually  obscured  by  us. 
First,  as  the  individual  does  not  exist  apart 
from  society,  so  he  cannot  be  saved  apart  from 
society.  A  life  cannot  be  transformed  without 
transforming  all  its  relations.  Secondly,  so- 
ciety can  only  be  saved  by  indi\dduals  being 
renewed  in  heart  and  soul.  The  Kingdom 
comes,  when  men  come  into  the  Kingdom. 
Jesus  gave  the  single  soul  new  value,  gave 
dignity  to  personality,  and  worth  to  the  indi- 
vidual. But  the  new  birth  of  the  soul  is  into  a 
society^  as  every  child  is  born  into  the  world  of 
men. 

Christianity  is  essentially  a  democratic  re- 
ligion. It  is  the  irony  of  history  that  it  should 
have  become  often  almost  a  synonym  for  the 
respectable  if  not  for  the  rich.  Jesus  the  car- 
penter's son  was  born  and  lived  and  died  in 
poverty.  His  first  disciples  were  poor  fisher- 
men. Judged  by  His  life  He  had  no  interest 
in  worldly  pursuits.     His  teaching  is  in  keep- 


138  The  New  World 

ing  with  His  life.  In  the  first  days  of  the 
Church  not  many  wise  after  the  flesh,  not 
many  noble,  not  many  rich  were  called.  The 
very  emphasis  of  Christianity  on  the  spiritual 
is  democratic.  The  soul,  not  outward  condi- 
tions, makes  the  man.  All  the  great  Christian 
movements  came  from  the  people — St.  Francis, 
Luther,  Wesley,  Booth  headed  popular  move- 
ments. 

The  theory  lying  back  of  democratic  govern- 
ment is  that  when  all  is  said  and  done  there  is 
more  chance  of  getting  justice  and  right  feeling 
than  by  any  other  way.  Democracy  if  you 
like  is  an  amazing  paradox.  It  seems  absurd 
to  expect  wisdom  from  all  the  brands  of  human 
folly  of  which  the  world  is  full.  It  is  like 
the  companion  paradox  of  free  speech.  Why 
should  you  let  men  teach  nonsense,  and  utter 
blasphemy,  and  air  all  manner  of  lunatic  no- 
tions ?  The  theory  back  of  free  speech  is  sim- 
ply that  truth  is  larger  than  any  select  number 
can  grasp,  and  it  is  wiser  to  have  all  sides  ex- 
pressed. At  any  rate,  along  that  way  of  de- 
mocracy progress  lies.  It  is  education /b?'  free- 
dom, and  the  only  method  to  attain  that  is  hy 


The  Movement  of  Democracy  139 

freedom.  Better  than  being  controlled  from 
above  is  it  that  the  people  should  control  them- 
selves. 

The  freedom  of  modern  democracy  is,  how- 
ever, not  an  insulated  individualism,  indeed  it 
is  less  so  to-day  than  ever  it  has  been.  This  is 
why  it  is  no  longer  content  with  the  ethics 
which  sought  to  raise  the  standard  of  personal 
morality.  There  is  an  insistent  demand  for 
new  social  ethics,  and  even  for  international  eth- 
ics. Already  it  is  not  enough  to  tell  the  poor 
to  be  submissive  and  the  rich  to  be  charitable. 
The  democracy  has  the  right  to  ask  the  Church 
to  pronounce  on  some  of  the  glaring  defects  of 
our  social  life,  the  city  slum,  the  wrongs  of 
women  and  children,  the  sins  of  high  finance, 
political  corruption,  industrial  oppression.  The 
democracy  also  asks  the  Church  to  pronounce 
on  the  false  ethics  which  ultimately  were  the 
cause  of  the  tragedy  of  Europe,  the  lying  di- 
plomacy, the  breach  of  public  faith,  the  disre- 
gard of  the  rights  of  weaker  nations,  the 
shameful  violation  of  treaty  and  the  pagan 
ethics  that  might  is  right.  All  the  Churches 
have  sinned  in  their  measure  of  neglect  of  the 


140  The  New  World 

weightier  matters,  careful  over  the  tithing  of 
the  mint  and  the  anise.  Church  courts  spend 
indignation  on  heresies  of  opinion  and  have 
nothing  to  say  to  the  damnable  heresies  of 
cruelty  and  selfishness  which  make  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven  impossible.  Our  feet  are  well 
past  the  threshold  of  our  new  age,  which  de- 
mands new  etliical  standards  to  inspire  the  new 
democracy. 


VI 


The  Spirit  of  the  Age 


Ye  unborn  ages,  crowd  not  on  my  soul ! 

—  Gray. 


VI 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  AGE 


O  very  many  this  is  a  time  of 
great  moral  distress.  They 
feel  that  the  foundations 
which  they  thought  secure 
are  slipping  from  under  us. 
Many  causes  are  contributing  to  this  and  the 
situation  of  the  world  at  war  is  only  confirming 
fears  that  had  already  arisen. 

These  fears  were  due  to  the  forces  at  work 
in  our  midst  that  seem  to  disintegrate  old  posi- 
tions. We  see  movements  which  compel  change 
in  the  region  of  religion.  There  is  the  critical 
movement  which  has  altered  our  view  of  the 
Bible.  The  scientific  movement  has  altered 
the  statement  of  almost  every  doctrine.  The 
democratic  movement  is  only  just  getting  in  its 
work.  Of  the  three  this  will  probably  be  by 
far  the  most  powerful  for  change,  because  it 
is  forcing  the  Church  as  well  as  society  gen- 

143 


144  ^'^^  New  World 

erally  to  consider  the  whole  question  of  au- 
thority. 

On  every  hand  we  hear  of  the  failure  of 
religion  in  the  face  of  the  tragedy  of  Europe. 
It  is  true  that  organized  religion  has  failed, 
but  the  failure  is  equally  true  of  other  organ- 
ized powers.  Civilization  itself  as  seen  in  the 
organized  State  has  broken  down.  Where 
could  there  be  a  more  lamentable  failure  than 
that  of  the  university  system  of  Germany : 
failure  to  direct  opinion,  to  control  passion, 
even  to  display  some  of  the  boasted  objectivity 
of  truth  ?  But  we  do  not  despair  of  educa- 
tion on  that  account,  and  we  do  not  despair 
of  civilization.  No  more  do  we  despair  of 
religion. 

It  is  perhaps  too  soon  in  the  face  of  the 
terrible  calamity,  with  the  agony  of  Belgium 
still  in  our  ears,  to  ask  ourselves  to  take  long 
views  of  history.  Yet  sooner  or  later  we  will 
recover  heart  and  take  at  least  a  longer  view. 
We  will  see  that  all  is  not  lost,  and  indeed  the 
fact  that  the  world  is  in  the  death  grips  of 
struggle  indicates  that  there  are  conflicting 
ideals. 


The  Spirit  of  the  Age       145 

Temperament  plays  a  large  part  in  the  way 
we  meet  the  prospect  of  radical  change.  Some 
dread  it,  hate  the  discomfort  of  adjustment, 
fear  the  result  on  things  they  hold  dear,  and  are 
always  considering  the  inevitable  loss.  Some 
welcome  it  eagerly  and  are  impatient  to  see  the 
new  day  make  itself  an  "  awful  rose  of  dawn." 

We  must  not  pay  too  much  heed  to  the 
general  wail  about  the  decay  of  religion.  It 
often  means  only  the  decay  of  a  certain  kind 
of  religion,  or  even  of  a  certain  chui^ch.  If,  for 
example,  Christianity  is  bound  up  in  one's  mind 
with  a  certain  practice  of  adult  baptism,  one 
can  easily  assume  that  religion  is  going  to  the 
dogs  if  less  attention  is  paid  to  that  particular 
rite.  A  religious  man  may  be  tempted  to  de- 
spair of  religion  because  of  changed  views  of 
the  Sabbath.  In  every  age  we  find  traces  of 
the  pessimism,  which  asserts  that  civilization  is 
breaking  to  pieces.  T\^e  see  now  that  such 
judgment  was  vitiated  by  a  narrow  standard. 
A  political  creed  will  affect  judgment  as  a 
religious  creed  does.  Sometimes  the  very 
growth  of  democracy  has  been  assumed  to  be 
a  sign  of  deca3^     Even  a  sociological  creed  will 


146  The  New  World 


bias  the  mind  of  judges.  In  the  estimation  of 
some  the  falling  off  of  the  birth  rate  is  proof 
positive  of  degeneracy.  Sectarian  laments  are 
not  confined  to  religious  circles. 

Perhaps  our  greatest  need  is  to  be  able  to 
hold  by  a  rational  optimism.  Various  forms  of 
slushy  optimism  are  common  among  us.  They 
mostl}^  consist  of  some  scheme  of  shutting  our 
eyes  to  fact.  Xo  honest  man  wants  to  get 
peace  that  way.  We  need  a  truer  and  more 
courageous  view  of  what  actually  is.  All  that 
a  brave  man  needs  is  a  living  faith  in  the  order 
and  sanity  and  purposiveness  of  the  Universe. 
He  is  content  with  the  wages  of  "  going  on." 
He  renews  his  strength  ;  for  he  believes  that 
lying  back  of  the  world  and  life  there  is  some- 
thing that  he  can  call  purpose.  For  all  intel- 
ligent working  and  living  we  need  to  be  sure 
that  there  is  an  end,  more  than  an  end  in  time, 
an  end  in  purpose.  If  we  see  this  in  history 
and  touch  it  in  experience,  we  can  look  steadily 
and  clearly  at  all  the  facts. 

We  look  then  into  the  age  in  which  we  live 
and  see  if  what  we  call  the  Spirit  of  the  Age 


The  Spirit  of  the  Age       147 

is  after  all  antagonistic  to  the  highest  life  of 
men  which  we  call  religion.  Some  of  course 
content  themselves  with  simply  damning  the 
age.  It  is  to  them  the  age  of  the  Devil,  and 
we  are  here  to  fight  it.  They  say  that  all  our 
trouble  and  all  the  restlessness  of  which  we 
find  evidence  are  due  to  the  fact  that  we  live 
in  an  irreligious  age.  This  is  not  so.  It  is 
true  that  we  live  in  an  age  different  from  any 
other.  Man  has  created  a  new  world  for  him- 
self. But  he  is  blind  to  the  forces  at  work  in 
our  midst  who  calls  this  an  irreligious  time. 
If  it  is  true  that  the  highest  form  of  religious 
life  must  have  at  its  heart  social  service,  there 
never  was  a  time  when  this  highest  religious 
ideal  was  more  insistent.  One  of  the  forces  in 
our  analysis  which  demanded  reconstruction 
was  the  democratic  spirit,  and  in  its  essence 
this  is  the  Christian  ideal  of  brotherhood.  It 
is  fed  by  the  great  vision  of  Jesus. 

Perhaps  what  we  need  most  is  to  call  out 
into  consciousness  what  actually  exists  in  us 
and  among  us.  We  are  often  blinded  to  the 
very  things  which  are  most  characteristic. 
Even    the    disciples    after    living    with   their 


148  The  New  World 

Master  and  having  experience  of  His  Spirit, 
misunderstood  His  purpose  so  tragically.  Once 
because  the  Samaritans  were  ungracious  to  Him 
and  offered  Him  a  personal  indignity,  James 
and  John  wanted  to  call  down  fire  from 
heaven  to  consume  the  village.  He  rebuked 
them  by  saying  :  "  Ye  know  not  what  manner 
of  spirit  ye  are  of."  That  was  the  pathos,  that 
men  could  have  been  so  near  Him  and  have 
seen  something  of  Him  and  yet  could  so  mis- 
understand Him.  All  through  the  centuries 
the  men  who  have  tried  to  enter  into  Christ's 
spirit  and  carry  on  His  work  have  often  misrep- 
resented His  aim  and  have  been  blind  to  the  very 
things  for  which  they  themselves  were  standing. 
It  may  seem  like  bravado,  but  it  is  in  solemn 
earnest  that  we  assert  that  there  never  v\ras  an 
age  more  fervently  Christian  than  this  one. 
The  very  negative  forces  which  have  been 
compelling  change  are  really  in  line  with  the 
essential  religious  spirit.  The  golden  age  is 
not  behind  us  like  a  burnt  out  star,  but  before 
us  as  the  master-light  of  all  our  seeing.  Our 
optimism  is  surely  rational,  if  it  is  based  on 
ascertained  facts. 


The  Spirit  of  the  Age       149 

Taking  then  a  broad  view  of  our  time  we 
can  sum  up  results  in  these  three  positive 
ways.  First,  the  spirit  of  the  age  is  seen  to 
be  a  spirit  of  truth  and  the  love  of  truth. 
When  we  say  that  our  age  is  preeminent  in 
this,  it  does  not  mean  that  men  did  not  be- 
fore believe  in  truth.  That  would  be  false 
and  foolish.  Many  of  the  noblest  men  of  the 
past  have  been  martyrs  in  the  search  for 
truth.  But  it  is  true  as  never  before  that 
we  are  seeking  to  get  reality  everywhere.  It 
is  the  watchword  of  all  our  education.  We 
test  all  our  scientific  method  by  how  it 
agrees  with  what  is.  We  seek  to  get  our  feet 
on  fact. 

We  are  coming  to  see  also  that  this  ideal  of 
truth  is  something  bigger  than  knowledge.  It 
has  to  be  related  to  life.  It  is  not  merely 
something  to  know  but  something  to  be.  We 
cannot  know  truth  till  we  are  true  men.  There 
is  a  flash  of  revealing  light  in  the  word  of 
Jesus,  "I  am  the  truth."  This  spirit  of  our 
age  needs  only  to  be  led  to  its  natural  con- 
clusion to  be  of  the  very  essence  of  Chris- 
tianity. 


150  The  New  JVorld 

In  the  second  place  the  spirit  of  our  age  is 
certainly  one  of  cooperation.  The  age  of  indi- 
vidualism has  passed,  and  we  see  that  there  is 
no  progress  that  way.  In  every  sphere  of  life 
Ave  know  that  we  cannot  stand  alone.  We 
know  the  value  of  team-work  in  play,  and  all 
labour  worth  while  is  done  by  team-work. 
Education  does  not  mean  that  a  certain  num- 
ber of  teachers  get  an  opportunity  to  say 
things  which  students  can  get  down  in  note- 
books and  possibly  get  into  their  heads.  We 
must  work  together  in  education  and  the  best 
teachers  realize  that  the  finest  results  come 
when  the  scholars  work  along  with  them.  A 
modern  university  is  an  experiment  in  co- 
operation. Knowledge  is  too  vast  for  any  one 
to  think  to  cover  all  the  ground.  A  professor 
in  Cambridge,  when  a  visitor  spoke  of  the  small- 
ness  of  his  own  special  library,  replied,  "  In 
Cambridge  when  you  want  to  know  a  thing 
you  don't  turn  up  a  book,  first  of  all  you  turn 
up  a  man."  Every  true  university  must  have 
this  ideal  that  men  are  working  not  only  for 
their  own  department  but  in  a  spirit  of  co- 
operation. 


The  Spirit  of  the  Age       151 

In  the  world  of  business  we  are  getting  past 
the  stage  of  bare  competition.  Many  of  our 
difficulties  to-day  are  due  to  the  attempt  to 
make  adjustment  to  the  new  demand.  We  are 
not  content  with  the  old  state  of  every  man  for 
himself  and  the  devil  take  the  hindmost.  One 
of  the  strongest  movements  of  our  time  is 
towards  truer  communal  life.  It  does  not 
spell  impoverishment  for  the  individual  but 
enrichment.  The  welfare  of  the  group  means 
ever  greater  welfare  to  the  member. 

It  may  be  that  this  is  one  of  the  ultimate 
causes  for  the  terrible  war  in  Europe  that  this 
spirit  of  the  age  is  breaking  through  the  bonds 
of  spurious  nationalism.  It  is  seeking  the  wid- 
est kind  of  cooperation.  It  looks  for  even  in- 
ternational relations  that  will  one  day  make  war 
itself  impossible.  In  its  highest  flower  it  will 
reach  a  brotherhood  of  man  of  which  we  al- 
ready see  traces. 

We  must  see  how  near  this  is  getting  to  the 
spirit  of  Christianity.  Even  the  idea  of  the 
Church  itself,  however  far  short  it  has  come, 
stands  for  this  dream  of  brotherhood.  There 
have  been  times  when  it  even  realized  to  some 


152  The  New  World 

extent  its  dream.  Certainly  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven,  of  which  the  Church  is  the  poor  instru- 
ment, points  to  this  ideal.  We  are  groping 
towards  the  imperial  vision  of  Christ,  of  a  realm 
of  God  which  oversteps  all  barriers  of  class  and 
caste  and  colour  and  race.  The  diffusion  of 
good-will  among  men,  the  sense  of  human 
brotherhood,  of  being  bound  up  in  the  one 
bundle  of  life,  the  growing  trust  in  men,  all  this 
is  of  the  very  essence  of  democracy — and  it  is 
not  far  from  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

We  refuse  to  let  the  world's  tragedy  to-day 
daunt  us.  Out  of  the  welter  we  see  emerging 
something  nearer  our  dream.  And  there  are 
elements  of  hope  even  in  the  present  desperate 
straits.  One  of  them  is  the  revolt  of  the  con- 
science  of  man,  the  distress  of  the  soul  of  man. 
The  bloody  struggle  fills  us  with  dismay  because 
it  so  contradicts  what  we  recognize  to  be  the 
true  spirit  of  the  age. 

The  third  fact  in  our  analysis  is  that  oar  age 
stands  for  the  spirit  of  service.  This  is  the  de- 
mand made  everywhere.  In  the  last  result  the 
value  of  a  gift  is  seen  to  be  its  value  for  others. 


T'he  Spirit  of  the  Age       153 

This  test  is  being  applied  to  everything.  The 
great  statesmen  of  America  are  preachers  and 
all  of  them  in  some  fashion  preach  this  doctrine. 
This  is  really  what  democracy  means.  In  its 
final  issue  it  is  a  spirit  of  service.  Business  is 
asked  to  judge  itself  by  this  judgment.  Our 
heroes  are  ceasing  to  be  the  warriors  who  ride 
to  their  ends  through  the  blood  of  men  and 
over  the  ashes  of  ruined  homesteads.  The  men 
who  serve  their  day  and  generation,  helping  us 
to  nobler  life  and  juster  laws  and  sweeter  con- 
ditions, are  the  heroes  we  are  learning  to  en- 
shrine in  memory  and  in  heart. 

Privileged  classes  of  some  sort  there  have  al- 
ways been  and  will  always  be.  In  a  democracy 
the  most  privileged  class  consist  of  those  who  re- 
ceive opportunities  for  the  higher  education,  op- 
pcrtunities  of  leisure  and  knowledge.  We  ex- 
pect and  will  increasingly  expect  from  them 
that  they  pay  in  service  the  price  of  their  privi- 
lege. The  man  whose  one  thought  is  to  get 
and  never  to  give,  who  uses  his  gifts  or  his  posi- 
tion for  selfish  ends  is  already  being  condemned 
by  the  common  ethics  of  the  world. 

We  are  learning  that  society  even  demands 


154  T^he  New  World 

sacrifice,  as  baseball  sometimes  demands  a 
"  sacrifice  hit."  This  spirit  of  service  spells  for 
every  noble  soul  if  need  be  sacrifice.  Once 
more  we  see  how  that  line  runs  right  down 
through  Christianity.  At  its  heart  stands  a 
cross,  a  lonely  cross  that  yet  is  calling  all  men 
unto  it. 

All  this  is  not  to  say  that  the  age  is  always 
and  altogether  Christian.  Now  as  at  all  times 
there  are  forces  antagonistic  to  the  higher  life 
of  man.  There  are  foes  to  be  overcome  as  in 
other  times,  and  the  great  struggle  of  the  ages 
goes  on  as  of  old.  Indeed,  there  are  the  same 
old  foes  with  only  new  faces.  All  that  we  as- 
sert is  that  the  Kingdom  is  nearer  than  when 
we  believed.  It  may  still  be  hard  to  be  a 
Cliristian  as  Eobert  Browning  sighed,  but  it  is 
probably  easier  than  ever  it  was  ;  for  the  gains 
of  the  past  remain  as  part  of  our  inheritance. 

There  is  of  course  danger  in  the  shift  of 
emphasis  which  has  taken  place.  Danger 
comes  from  some  of  the  conditions  that  accom- 
pany the  changes  of  our  day.  For  example,  the 
spirit  of  broadening  truth  has  meant  a  break- 


The  Spirit  of  the  Age       155 

down  of  the  sectarian  spirit  in  religion.  This 
may  lead  to  a  general  attitude  of  indifference, 
as  if  one  thing  were  as  good  as  another.  All 
cats  are  gray  in  the  dark,  and  if  we  live  in  a 
haze  we  may  assume  that  nothing  matters. 
The  loss  of  loyalty  to  a  religious  group  has 
often  brought  moral  weakness  to  young  men  of 
liberal  mind. 

But  this  smaller  emphasis  given  to  sectional 
and  sectarian  religion  has  also  meant  great  gain. 
Lord  Melbourne  said  cynically  that  the  Church 
was  the  last  bulwark  against  Christianity.  An 
institution  may  be  the  greatest  enemy  of  the 
life  which  gave  birth  to  the  institution.  The 
spirit  of  liberty  which  gets  enshrined  in  a  con- 
stitution and  a  code  of  laws  may  be  endangered 
by  its  very  children.  It  is  too  true  that  often 
the  organized  Church  has  been  put  into  the 
place  of  religion. 

"We  must  not  forget  that  the  breakdown  of 
sectarian  religion  has  been  largely  due  to  ths 
recognition  that  the  Kingdom  is  bigger  than 
the  Church.  The  Church  must  be  judged  by 
how  far  it  is  an  efficient  instrument  for  advanc- 
ing the  interests  of  the  Kingdom.     Organiza- 


156  The  New  World 


tion  is  needed  to  embody  and  preserve  life,  and 
a  great  opportunity  now  emerges  to  give  the 
religious  spirit  a  wider  and  nobler  kind  of  in- 
stitution. For  instance  we  may  well  ask  that 
the  American  genius  for  organization  might 
start  on  the  problem  of  the  country  church. 
All  over  the  country  are  villages  with  four  or 
five  struggling  causes — with  mighty  little  effect. 
The  community  is  divided  up  in  the  pettiest 
kind  of  fashion  in  the  very  thing  where  true 
union  is  needed.  Instead  of  a  Church  which 
mic^ht  be  the  centre  of  the  fullest  social  life 
and  the  centre  of  spiritual  influence,  there  are 
broken  fragments  pulling  against  each  other. 
As  for  the  ministers  there  is  not  a  man's  job  in 
it  for  any  of  them.  If  we  allowed  the  true 
spirit  of  our  age  to  work  on  the  situation,  there 
would  be  opportunity  for  the  best  man  God 
ever  made  to  put  in  a  life's  work  at  the  head 
of  such  a  Church  in  any  country  community. 
Is  it  too  much  to  ask  that  some  of  the  business 
capacity  in  our  midst  should  be  consecrated  to 
this  practical  purpose  ? 

Again,  there  is  undoubted  danger  from  the 
loosening  of  creeds  which  is  a  sign  of  our  times. 


T'he  Spirit  of  the  Age       157 

Many  are  tempted  to  take  the  position  that  it 
does  not  matter  what  a  man  believes.  We  say 
superficially  that  it  is  not  what  one  thinks  but 
what  he  does  that  counts.  This  is  true  if  we 
mean  opinion  or  s23eculation.  If  by  faith  we 
mean  the  fundamental  position  of  a  man's  liv- 
ing, then  this  statement  that  it  does  not  matter 
what  he  believes  is  the  silliest  and  the  falsest 
ever  made.  By  comparison  nothing  else  does 
matter.  The  real  faith  will  soak  through  every 
thought  and  feeling,  and  mark  the  whole  fabric 
of  life.  Teach  a  nation  to  believe  in  war,  tell 
them  of  the  biological  necessity  for  war,  the 
right  and  the  duty  to  make  war — and  you  will 
have  war. 

The  decay  of  creeds  which  marks  our  time 
has  come  from  a  sense  of  the  futility  of  much 
of  our  hair-splitting  on  points  and  propositions. 
K.  L.  Stevenson  tells  of  an  old  Scotch  lawyer 
who  was  arguing  with  his  minister  about  Cal- 
vinism and  was  interrupted  by  an  intolerable 
pang  of  pain.  "  After  all,"  he  said,  "  of  all  the 
'isms  I  know  none  so  bad  as  rheumatism." 

Further,  the  decay  of  creeds  is  largely  caused 
by  a  truer  understanding  of  what  faith  is.     It 


158  7 he  New  World 

is  not  the  acceptance  of  propositions  however 
true.  It  is  an  attitude  of  the  heart  and  life. 
We  see  that  the  essence  of  religion  is  not  in 
propositions  any  more  than  it  is  church  organi- 
zation. These  are  necessary  and  inevitable,  but 
they  exist  for  life,  not  life  for  them. 

The  added  emphasis  on  the  practical  and  on 
the  social  side  of  religion  is  in  keeping  with  the 
spirit  of  the  age.  There  may  be  danger  here 
of  making  our  religion  shallow  and  even  of  de- 
veloping a  new  kind  of  formalism.  But  surely 
there  is  hope  in  the  modern  attitude.  It  means 
the  end  of  much  false  emphasis.  In  a  district 
of  Liverpool  where  there  were  constant  relig- 
ious riots  between  Catholics  and  Orangemen 
there  was  a  Chinese  laundryman.  He  realized 
that  he  was  in  the  w^ar  zone,  and  one  day  he 
put  out  a  sign  with  these  words,  ^'  Me  have  no 
religion  :  me  washee  clothes."  It  is  a  sad  com- 
mentary on  much  that  passes  for  religion  that 
such  a  story  has  sting  to  it. 

The  final  test  of  a  religion  must  be  practical, 
and  the  test  of  practice  must  be  a  social  one. 
Does  it  give  men  mastery  over  self,  over  life, 
over  the  world  ?    The  truth  is  that  the  Church 


T'he  Spirit  of  the  Age       159 


is  being  driven  back  to  a  closer  touch  with  its 
Master's  ideal. 

The  teaching  of  Jesus  on  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  made  it  among  other  things  a  brother- 
hood. The  righteousness  cannot  be  attained 
in  isolation.  It  was  a  society  which  He 
founded.  Because  the  essence  of  personal  re- 
ligion is  trust  in  the  Heavenly  Father  we  are 
related  at  once  to  the  other  children.  This 
thought  of  the  family  runs  through  all  the 
teaching  of  Jesus.  It  means  ties  of  love  and 
mutual  sympathy.     And  it  means  service. 

The  Kingdom  was  part  of  His  faith  in  God 
the  Heavenly  Father.  The  man  of  faith  is  al- 
ways a  critic  of  the  present — and  there  was  no 
keener  critic  of  present  affairs  than  Jesus.  He 
saw  the  multitude  of  men  as  sheep  without  a 
shepherd,  and  His  heart  was  moved  with  com- 
passion. He  saw  the  strong  lording  it  over  the 
weak,  the  powerful  nation  drenching  earth  with 
blood  in  lust  of  dominion.  He  knew  from  ex- 
perience what  grinding  poverty  was,  and  boot- 
less labour.  He  saw  the  sorrow  of  the  people 
and  the  luxury  of  the  rich  and  the  shame  of 


i6o  The  New  World 

courts.  He  saw  the  ignorance  of  the  little 
ones,  and  the  pride  of  the  great  ones.  He  saw 
greed,  and  hatred,  and  selfishness,  and  oppres- 
sion. He  saw  men  spending  their  strength 
and  squandering  the  treasure  of  their  hearts 
for  things  of  no  account,  giving  money  for  that 
which  is  not  bread. 

The  more  the  world's  misery  oppressed  Him, 
the  more  He  felt  that  the  Kingdom  which  He 
preached  was  "  good  news."  The  ideal  society 
had  to  have  deep  roots.  It  could  not  come  by 
a  few  moves  on  the  economic  chess-board.  It 
had  to  begin  in  the  heart  and  conscience  of  men. 
The  social  ethics  had  to  be  built  on  personal 
ethics,  born  of  the  soul  brought  into  relation 
to  God  the  loving  Father.  The  Kingdom  had 
to  be  the  Kingdom  of  God.  But  ever  the  end 
was  the  ideal  society,  not  to  save  the  soul  but 
to  save  the  world.  So  He  preached  it  as  good 
news  to  the  poor  and  the  maimed. 

Men  say  that  this  Kingdom  is  visionary  and 
impractical.  Well,  it  has  lifted  the  world  in 
its  steep  ascent  more  than  anything  in  history. 
It  is  still  the  inspiration  of  this  world  in  which 


The  Spirit  of  the  Age       i6i 

we  live.  It  is  its  only  hope.  We  have  courage 
to  face  the  future  and  to  endure  the  present  be- 
cause of  the  power  of  that  vision.  This  light 
that  never  was  on  sea  or  land  is  the  life  of 
everything  that  lives  in  man. 

All  the  problems  of  America  are  religious 
problems.  They  are  all  problems  of  human 
relations.  Take  any  one  of  them,  the  problem 
of  immigration,  labour  problems,  the  problem  of 
the  Trusts,  race  and  colour  problems.  We  may 
do  something  by  legislation  and  by  economic 
arrangement,  but  an  ultimate  solution  is  only 
possible  through  religion.  Eeligion  works  in 
the  sphere  of  relations,  and  our  problems  are 
all  due  to  the  fact  that  the  true  relations  have 
been  lost.  We  must  get  back  into  the  right 
attitude  towards  each  other.  For  this  we  need 
faith  and  the  courage  that  faith  can  give.  We 
need  faith  in  God  and  in  man.  In  the  true 
spirit  of  our  age  we  move  forward  and  make 
the  old  adventure  of  soul,  which  has  ever  led 
men  to  serve  the  purpose  of  God. 


VII 
The  Principles  of  Reconstruction 


He  who  wishes  to  have  a  useful  influence  on  his 
time  should  insult  nothing. —  Goethe. 


YII 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  RECONSTRUCTION 


O  one  can  foretell  in  detail 
what  the  actual  changes  will 
be  in  creed  and  institution. 
All  that  we  can  wisely  do  is 
suggest  the  lines  which  we 
should  frankly  follow.  The  first  principle 
which  should  govern  every  change  is  that  it 
should  honestly  suit  the  age.  The  poorest 
sort  of  service  any  one  can  offer  is  to  condemn 
the  time  in  which  we  live,  as  if  the  sole  func- 
tion of  religion  is  to  damn  the  present  age. 
We  are  in,  and  of,  the  age  also.  The  fact  is 
that  the  chief  reason  for  reconstruction  is  not 
pressure  from  without  but  from  within.  It  is 
needed  not  so  much  to  make  faith  more  reason- 
able to  outsiders  as  to  be  a  better  interpretation 
of  the  facts. 

If  the  modern  Church  is  to  serve  the  world 

of  to-day,  it  must  seek  to  state  its  creed  so  as 

165 


i66  The  New  World 

to  satisfy  the  intellect,  and  it  must  provide  an 
organization  that  will  satisfy  the  spiritual  needs 
of  man.  Its  theology  must  suit  the  age.  If  it 
be  thought  that  the  Church  is  a  close  corpora- 
tion for  maintaining  the  status  quo  in  thinking 
and  in  social  living,  its  day  will  soon  pass,  and 
men  will  turn  to  other  institutions  that  will 
meet  their  needs  better.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  average  man  in  the  churches  thinks  of  the 
Church  mainly  as  designed  to  foster  religious 
life  and  not  to  guard  the  deposit  of  theological 
opinions.  He  is  more  interested  in  life  than  in 
creed,  and  church  leaders  could  easily  have 
more  courage  and  faith  than  they  have. 

Ecclesiastical  authority  is  too  much  given  to 
settle  questions  not  by  evidence  and  proof  and 
reason,  but  by  police  methods.  It  is  an  easy 
way  to  get  a  semblance  of  peace  by  ejecting 
every  questioner  as  a  disturber  of  the  quiet.  It 
is  no  wonder  that  the  charge  is  made  against 
the  Church  of  lack  of  intellectual  veracity. 
Some  "  defenders  of  the  faith  "  speak  as  if  the 
theology  they  inherited  had  never  changed. 
That  is  only  because  they  do  not  know  its  his- 
tory.    It  is  a  false  reading  of  the  Kew  Testa- 


Principles  of  Reconstruction    167 

ment  and  of  Christian  history  to  speak  of 
Christianity  as  something  handed  over  en  hloo 
— a  plan  of  thinking  and  living  once  delivered, 
and  once  for  all  delivered  to  the  saints. 

Christianity  has  always  been  a  vital  force 
changing  the  world,  and  itself  in  process  of 
change.  In  the  first  centuries  it  moved  out 
from  its  little  Jewish  environment  into  the 
world  of  Greek  thought,  and  its  relation  to 
that  had  to  be  worked  out.  It  came  into  the 
world  of  Roman  dominion,  and  it  took  from  that 
a  distinct  ecclesiastical  form  which  of  course 
reacted  on  doctrine.  After  the  Middle  Ages 
it  passed  into  the  world  of  new  nationalities. 
It  is  now  in  the  world  of  modern  science  and 
democracy,  and  again  we  find  a  process  of  ad- 
justment both  of  creed  and  of  revised  eccle- 
siastical government.  In  each  case  the  process 
began  with  criticism.  The  early  Church  spoke 
in  the  language  intelligible  to  its  age,  stated 
doctrine  in  terms  of  the  accepted  philosophy 
of  the  Greek  world.  Its  successors  made  the 
mistake  of  thinking  it  final,  but  though  no 
single  attempted  explanation  of  the  infinite 
can  be  final,  the  first  creeds  were  the  true  ex- 


i68  The  New  World 

pression  of  the  ex23erience  of  religion  in  the 
natural  thought  of  the  time. 

"We  can  say  the  same  thing  of  the  institution 
of  the  Church.  It  was  the  fruit  of  history  and 
of  the  needs  of  the  world  at  that  period.  Its 
unity  and  centralized  power  were  necessary  to 
maintain  its  existence.  Its  sacraments  and 
sacerdotal  ministry  ministered  to  sick  souls 
and  fostered  spiritual  life.  Its  ethics  guarded 
and  guided  civilization  through  the  dark  ages. 
To-day  it  can  only  survive  by  playing  again 
the  same  part,  by  understanding  the  world  of 
modern  life  and  by  meeting  its  needs.  What 
is  more  important  than  even  its  own  survival  is 
that  only  thus  can  it  serve  and  save  the  world. 

We  cannot  go  back  to  the  age  of  the 
Apostles,  and  copy  their  institutions  and 
mimic  their  language  and  think  again  precisely 
their  thoughts.  The  common  cry  to  go  back 
to  the  age  of  the  Apostles,  or  back  to  the 
Pauline  Theology,  or  even  the  more  popular 
cry  to-day  to  go  back  to  Christ  is  due  to  the 
fallacy  that  it  is  possible.  It  is  a  historic 
illusion  to  imagine  that  we  can  divest  ourselves 
of  all  that  the  intervening  years  have  brought. 


Pri?tciples  of  Reconstruction    169 

We  go  back  in  the  true  sense  that  we  may  go 
forward.  We  need  to  make  our  own  theology, 
and  can  correct  it  by  examination  with  the 
source.  We  are  in  the  true  apostolic  succes- 
sion when  we  attempt  no  slavish  imitation, 
which  cannot  sound  sincere  on  our  lips. 

This  is  true  of  all  that  we  see  reflected  in  the 
!N'ew  Testament  of  apostolic  life  and  ways  and 
institutions.  We  are  inclined  to  contrast  the 
state  of  the  Church  to-day  with  the  conditions 
in  apostolic  times,  the  simplicity  of  organiza- 
tion and  life,  the  simplicity  of  creed.  This 
contrast  is  useful,  and  many  lessons  are  to  be 
learned  from  it ;  but  to  become  a  mere  praiser 
of  the  past  and  to  condemn  all  later  develop- 
ments is  to  make  the  Scribes'  mistake  over 
again.  It  is  to  assume  that  the  Gospel  came 
to  its  height  in  the  usages  and  organization  of 
those  early  days,  which  are  to  be  unvarying 
precedents  for  all  time  coming. 

A  close  study  of  the  New  Testament  itself 
should  be  enough  to  warn  us  from  this,  and  to 
convince  us  how  really  futile  it  is.  After  all, 
we  see  change  going  on  even  in  apostolic 
times,  changes  even  of  such  things  as  that  of 


lyo  The  New  W^orld 

the  Christian  Sabbath  from  the  last  day  to  the 
first  day  of  the  week,  changes  in  the  Lord's 
Supper.  Wisely,  then,  when  we  go  back  to 
primitive  institutions  and  theology  of  the  E'ew 
Testament  we  go  back  not  as  to  a  fetish,  not 
to  attempt  a  servile  following  of  even  apostolic 
models,  but  to  imbibe  again  the  spirit  of  devo- 
tion and  love  and  reverence,  to  drink  of  the 
brook  by  the  way  and  to  lift  up  our  head  for 
our  warfare. 

For  the  task  of  the  Church  in  seeking  to 
satisfy  the  intellect,  we  ought  not  to  be  afraid 
of  controversv.  Indeed  we  should  welcome  it. 
There  is  a  false  peace  in  intellectual  life,  as 
elsewhere,  which  consists  of  creating  a  desert 
and  calling  it  peace.  In  every  other  sphere  of 
knowledge  progress  comes  by  criticism,  by  fear- 
less dispute.  Untrammelled  discussion  is  the 
only  safeguard  for  truth.  When  we  recognize 
that  truth  is  an  ideal  which  we  can  only  hope 
to  approximate,  we  are  not  distressed  by  com- 
parative failure.  Dogmatism  which  lays  down 
the  law  would  be  an  offense  in  any  science. 
It  is  no  less  an  offense  in  theology.  The  early 
Church  acquired  its  theology  by  free  discus- 


Principles  of  Reconstruction    171 

sion.  The  first  creed  won  out  on  its  merits. 
We  must  seek  to  shape  our  system  of  thought 
by  translating  into  modern  language  and 
modern  thought  the  doctrines  of  faith. 

To  do  this  satisfactorily  we  should  grant 
willingly  and  gladly  freedom  to  investigate, 
to  think  and  to  propose.  "We  who  believe  in 
the  triumph  of  truth  may  well  believe  in  such 
freedom.  Eenan  compared  the  liberal  the- 
ologian of  his  time  to  a  bird  whose  wings 
are  clipped — as  long  as  it  is  at  rest  it  looks 
all  right,  but  when  it  tries  to  fly,  it  has  not 
much  to  fly  with.  That  may  be  so,  but  clipped 
wings  can  sprout  again,  and  noble  flight  be- 
come again  possible.  Whereas  the  orthodox 
theologian,  who  will  not  allow  growth  or 
progress,  is  like  a  bird  in  a  cage.  He  cannot 
even  try  to  fly. 

Our  theology  must  not  only  suit  our  age 
intellectually,  but  it  must  also  do  this  morally. 
It  must  meet  the  demands  of  conscience  as 
well  as  of  intellect.  We  must  not  be  asked 
to  accept  a  theology  which  outrages  reason  or 
conscience.  The  moral  conscience  of  our  time 
is  asking  for  changes  that  amount  to  social 


172  "The  New  World 

reconstruction.  Keligion  believes  that  this 
cannot  be  done  in  external  fashion  alone.  A 
condition  imposed  from  without  will  break 
down.  There  cannot  be  a  brotherhood  with- 
out brothers,  and  only  religion  is  adequate  for 
the  task.  We  are  told  that  social  service  is 
our  duty,  but  even  that  will  not  suffice  if  we 
ask  why  it  is  our  duty.  Only  religion  can 
give  the  sufficient  sanction  to  modern  social 
demands,  and  supply  the  sufficient  motive  for 
them. 

Our  theology  must  take  into  account  these 
demands  of  modern  life.  It  has  to  be  the 
basis  for  new  social  ethics  and  can  no  longer 
be  run  on  individualistic  lines.  We  may  even 
have  to  revise  our  scale  of  virtues.  The 
private  and  personal  virtues  inculcated  in  in- 
dividual ethics  will  still  get  their  place,  but 
chiefly  because  they  contribute  to  the  social 
good  and  make  for  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

The  second  broad  principle  is  that  our  the- 
ology ought  also  to  have  a  relation  to  the  ages, 
as  well  as  to  this  age.  The  demand  we  make 
for  freedom  does  not  mean  license  to  disregard 


Principles  of  Reconstruction    173 

all  that  the  past  has  brought.  If  there  is  a 
stupid  conservatism  which  keeps  tight  hold  of 
decayed  forms  and  dead  rituals,  there  is  a  no 
less  stupid  radicalism  which  is  blind  to  the 
value  of  the  old.  The  reformer  in  a  hurry 
always  jumps  to  "  cut  the  painter."  The  true 
reformer  comes  not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfill. 
He  knows  that  we  cannot  start  all  over  again 
with  a  clean  slate.  He  would  not  if  he  could  ; 
for  he  knows  the  values  which  have  already 
been  proved. 

In  every  sphere  we  suffer  from  the  hasty 
reformer,  who  sees  only  the  defects  of  present 
conditions,  and  who  is  impatient  to  make  a 
clean  sweep  of  all  that  is.  It  is  to  assume  that 
nothing  has  been  gained  in  the  long  story  of 
the  race.  Criticism  can  be  easily  directed 
against  the  actual  state  of  affairs  in  politics, 
and  the  Church,  and  industry,  and  the  family, 
and  in  every  human  relationship.  There  ought 
to  be  freedom  for  criticism  and  there  ought  to 
be  change  where  change  is  needed,  but  there 
is  nothing  gained  by  pulling  things  up  by  the 
root.  There  is  anything  but  wisdom  in  as- 
suming that  wisdom  began  with  us,  any  more 


174  T^^  TV^'m;  IForld 


than  that  it  will  die  with  us.  Every  now  and 
again  some  one  thinks  out  a  new  religion  over 
night  and  proposes  to  endow  the  world  wuth 
it.  We  learn  that  we  cannot  wisely  serve 
the  present  without  taking  into  account  the 
past. 

Every  new  proposal  needs  to  work  out  its 
relations  to  what  has  gone  before.  Human 
history  is  not  a  series  of  disconnected  events  or 
even  periods.  Things  are  not  cut  off  from  each 
other,  but  slide  into  each  other.  We  make 
clean  lines  of  cleavage  only  for  convenience' 
sake.  We  talk  of  eighteenth  century  philos- 
ophy and  nineteenth  century  science,  ancient 
and  modern,  this  age  and  previous  ages,  but 
everything  is  relative.  History  is  like  some  of 
the  old  English  cathedrals,  which  took  so  long 
a-building  that  the  styles  of  architecture 
changed,  and  we  see  the  Gothic  growing  out 
of  the  Norman  simply  and  naturally  without 
any  violent  breaks.  Nothing  that  man  has 
made  is  more  interesting  and  beautiful  than 
such  a  noble  building.  It  is  like  a  great  living 
thing  which  grew  and  blossomed,  with  roots 
and  stem  and  branches  and  foliage,  each  dif- 


Principles  of  Reconstruction    175 

ferent  but  springing  out  of  each  other.  A  true 
conception  of  history  is  the  best  equipment  for 
theology  as  for  some  other  things — not  events 
in  history  but  what  history  itself  is. 

We  see  the  importance  of  this  second  princi- 
ple, that  our  theology  must  have  relation  to 
past,  from  the  following  considerations.  For 
one  thing  the  subject  matter  of  theology  is  not 
all  new.  The  ultimate  questions  are  old,  as  old 
as  the  heart  of  man.  We  still  ask  the  same 
age-old  questions.  If  a  man  die  shall  he  live 
again  ?  How  shall  a  man  be  just  with  God  ? 
Why  do  the  righteous  suffer?  Oh,  that  I 
knew  where  I  might  find  Him.  These  ques- 
tions are  all  asked  in  the  Book  of  Job.  We 
might  state  them  differently,  but  they  raise  the 
selfsame  problems  which  meet  the  mind  of 
man  to-day.  We  are  not  coming  for  the  first 
time  to  consider  the  enigma  of  life  and  the 
enigma  of  the  world.  We  ought  to  know 
something  of  the  answers  which  men  have 
given  to  the  age-old  questions.  Other  ages 
have  searched  for  answer  to  the  old  inquiry  of 
Whence  and  Whither.  Unless  we  dismiss  them 
as  insoluble,  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  assume 


176  The  New  World 

that  other  generations  have  made  answers 
worth  our  knowing. 

Then,  a  great  deal  of  our  present  problem  of 
adjustment  is  due  to  the  modern  principle  by 
which  we  study  everything,  the  principle  of 
evolution.  A  consideration  of  this  implies  the 
necessity  of  considering  the  past.  We  think 
that  we  understand  things  better  in  botany 
and  biology  by  tracing  the  forms  through 
which  present  forms  arrived.  Surely  we  must 
apply  this  to  theology  if  we  are  to  be  con- 
sistent. Evolution  implies  variations,  but  no 
gaps,  no  violent  leaps.  The  more  in  earnest 
we  are  to  carry  forward  the  view  of  truth  of 
which  we  have  glimpses,  the  more  must  we  see 
it  grounded  in  truth  previously  held.  Knowl- 
edge is  a  growth,  whose  roots  are  in  the  soil 
and  subsoil  of  history. 

Further,  for  purposes  of  valuation  we  must 
go  back.  We  cannot  know  the  present  without 
the  past.  We  cannot  even  value  things  in  the 
present  without  seeing  something  of  their  his- 
tory. The  way  to  repel  some  of  the  deadliest 
criticism  of  institutions  and  ideas  and  primal 
faiths  is  to  see  their  work.     We  have  to  trust 


Principles  of  Reconstruction    177 

to  history  rather  than  logic  in  valuing  some 
things,  and  this  is  in  line  with  the  true  em- 
pirical experimental  method  of  science.  There 
grows  up  a  body  of  experiments,  with  estab- 
lished results  in  science.  Man  has  been  longer 
at  the  job  in  the  matter  of  life  than  he  has  been 
in  the  matter  of  science,  and  there  has  grown 
up  a  body  of  experiments  with  some  established 
results  in  life.  We  do  not  need  to  repeat  every 
vital  experiment  in  life  that  has  been  made 
throughout  the  ages.  Otherwise  the  world  of 
social  life  would  be  a  wild  welter  of  individual- 
ism. It  is  not  enough  that  an  idea  seems  good 
to  us  and  appeals  to  our  tastes  or  inclinations 
or  even  our  reason.  We  must  test  it  in  life, 
and  see  what  it  will  do  in  actual  practice,  and 
what  its  final  results  will  likely  be.  Fortu- 
nately that  does  not  always  mean  that  we  must 
try  it  out  in  actual  experiment,  that  we  must 
perpetually  risk  burning  our  fingers  with  it. 
We  may  see  it  exemplified  in  history,  see  how 
it  tends,  what  it  has  done,  and  judge  what  it 
may  do. 

The  value  of  an  institution  like  marriage  is 
proven  by  history  more  than  by  abstract  rea- 


178  The  New  World 

soiling.  Some  of  the  criticisms  levelled  against 
it  are  disproved  by  actual  facts.  The  arrange- 
ment, that  some  interested  persons  or  some 
light  critics  think  would  be  better,  has  been 
tried  and  its  effects  are  known.  The  world 
has  not  exhausted  its  experiments,  but  it  is  not 
merely  beginning  them.  Man  has  not  ex- 
hausted his  experiences,  but  he  has  already  had 
some  experiences.  We  do  not  start  fresh  with 
a  new  world.  History,  the  experience  of  gen- 
erations, has  revealed  values  which  we  dare  not 
let  slip.  All  our  actual  problems  have  their 
roots  in  the  past,  though  our  particular  concern 
with  them  is  in  the  present  and  the  future. 
Religious  truth  has  to  be  established  and  tested 
in  the  same  way  as  any  truth.  It  has  to  bear 
the  test  of  practice,  but  we  are  not  confined  to 
our  own  practice.  History  here  too  is  a  means 
of  knowledge.  This  is  one  of  the  practical 
values  of  the  Church  to  us  that  it  brings  us 
into  relation  to  the  normal  and  the  universal. 
Other  feet  have  trodden  where  we  tread,  and 
indeed  the  path  on  which  we  usually  must  walk 
is  well-worn,  so  that  a  wayfaring  man,  though 
a  fool,  need  not  err  therein. 


Principles  of  Reconstruction    179 

All  that  we  have  been  advancing  implies 
recognition  of  the  value  of  continuity.  To 
think  of  our  age  in  a  fragmentary  way,  cut  off 
from  all  the  past,  would  be  to  lose  the  fruitful 
thought  of  growth.  Our  best  thought  and 
work  would  wither  in  the  shallow  soil  with 
no  depth  of  root.  We  do  not  want  to  leave 
ourselves  "  up  in  the  air  "  religiously  any  more 
than  in  any  region  of  life.  It  would  be  serious 
loss  all  round  if  we  cut  ourselves  off  from  the 
historic  religious  life,  especially  when  we  see 
how  fundamentally  social  religion  is.  It  seems 
incredible  that  this  individualistic  policy  should 
be  adopted  to-day  when  we  are  accepting  the 
social  basis  of  religion. 

This  principle  that  religion  naturally  has  re- 
lation to  the  past  must  apply  to  our  statement 
of  doctrine.  Theology  is  the  attempt  of  the 
mind  to  understand  the  facts  of  religion  and 
to  interpret  the  experience  of  religion.  The 
ancient  forms  stood  for  realities.  The  explana- 
tion they  offer  may  no  longer  be  adequate  and 
may  have  to  be  amended,  but  the  experience 
that  lies  back  of  it  has  still  to  be  explained. 
We  must  be  careful  to  appreciate  the  religious 


i8o  The  New  IVorld 

value  of  the  older  statement.  This  can  be  car- 
ried too  far  and  let  the  old  creed  be  emascu- 
lated, altering  statements  by  interpretation, 
and  assuming  that  nothing  really  was  needing 
change.  At  the  same  time  if  a  creed  is  de- 
signed as  a  basis  of  union  it  must  be  largely 
looked  on  as  a  symbol  and  there  should  be  a 
large  freedom  of  interpretation.  No  society  is 
held  together  by  common  opinions,  but  by  a 
common  purpose. 

The  principle  should  also  apply  to  a  very 
large  extent  to  language.  Living  speech  is 
never  stable.  Words  grow  richer  or  poorer, 
adding  to  their  significance  or  losing  their 
ancient  force.  We  cannot  deal  with  words  as 
we  do  with  numbers.  They  cannot  be  kept 
fixed  and  definite,  so  long  as  they  are  in  use 
among  men.  To  discard  all  old  words  rich  in 
association  because  we  cannot  use  them  with 
the  old  precision  of  meaning  would  be  to  im- 
poverish modern  religion.  The  vocabulary  of 
religion  is  itself  an  asset,  and  comes  down  to 
us  freighted  with  the  memory  of  the  saints. 
There  is  a  prosaic  type  of  mind  which  tries  to 
tie  us  down  to  legal  definitions  and  would  com- 


Principles  of  Reconstruction    181 

pel  us  to  invent  new  phraseology  whenever  the 
meaning  of  the  old  has  shifted. 

There  can  be  no  invariable  rule  and  much 
can  be  said  for  the  more  radical  position  that 
the  old  language  should  be  discarded.  It  may 
be  disingenuous  to  use  words  in  a  different 
sense  from  which  they  have  been  understood. 
Also,  it  plays  into  obscurant  hands  if  we  use 
their  words  without  indicating  the  difference. 
There  are  certainly  times  when  it  is  duty  to 
make  a  clean-cut  line  that  will  indicate  where 
men  stand.  This  needs  to  be  in  the  interests 
of  truth.  Again,  some  old  language  may  have 
become  unintelligible  and  be  a  hindrance  to 
earnest  minds.  Thus,  a  cast-iron  rule  is  im- 
possible and  each  case  must  be  judged  on  its 
merits.  If  the  Christian  world  no  longer 
thinks  of  God  in  terms  of  the  Mcene  Creed,  it 
ought  not  to  go  on  using  obsolete  phrases.  But 
after  all  the  purpose  of  the  Church  is  to  unite 
all  who  have  experience  of  God,  all  men  of 
good- will,  all  who  assent  to  the  purpose  of 
Jesus.  We  seek  cooperation  and  service,  and 
do  not  want  separate  battle-cries  over  every 
point  of  difference. 


i82  The  New  World 

Our  principle  would  mean  that  it  is  better 
to  keep  to  an  old  phrase,  if  it  can  be  made  to 
serve  the  new  needs.  Take  the  word  Church 
itself — what  a  different  conception  we  have  as 
compared  with  past  theories  of  the  Church, 
and  what  a  gain  that  the  word  has  been  kept 
with  its  gathered  treasures  of  the  ages  I  It  is 
safe  to  say  that  no  man  now  in  practice  thinks 
of  the  nature  and  functions  and  power  of  the 
Church  precisely  as  was  once  held,  even  in  the 
Roman  Church  itself,  where  in  theory  there  has 
been  no  change.  As  for  Protestantism  no  two 
institutions  could  be  farther  apart  than  the 
modern  Church  admittedly  is  from  the  Church 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  AYould  not  all  acknowl- 
edge some  sense  of  loss  if  we  felt  compelled  to 
search  for  a  new  word  to  mark  our  new  con- 
ception of  the  Christian  society  ?  The  word 
has  quickly  altered  its  meaning,  as  the  thing 
for  which  it  stood  changed.  It  is  now,  and 
will  surely  always  be,  of  value  to  know  our- 
selves linked  on  to  the  Church  of  the  ages,  in 
communion  with  the  goodly  fellowship  of  all 
the  saints.  This  sense  the  very  word  Church 
gives  us,  and  we  would  be  the  poorer  if  it  were 


Principles  of  Reconstruction    183 

made  hard  to  feel  ourselves  belonging  to  the 
great  society  of  the  noble  living  and  the  noble 
dead. 

Or  take  the  phrase  which  meant  so  much  in 
the  teaching  of  Jesus,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
Some,  who  object  to  the  emphasis  in  modern 
theology  given  to  this  phrase,  have  tried  to 
prejudice  us  by  pointing  out  that  the  word 
Kingdom  is  not  suited  to  a  republic  or  a  de- 
mocracy. It  is  a  very  cunning  objection, 
though  it  sounds  strangely  in  the  mouth  of 
those  who  are  fighting  any  change  in  the- 
ological thinking.  The  objection  is  foolish  as 
we  have  seen ;  for  words  have  a  history  like 
everything  else,  and  this  one  need  not  be 
ashamed  of  its  ancestry.  It  is  not  only  fool- 
ish, but  it  is  ignorant.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the 
phrase  was  not  invented  by  Jesus,  but  was 
taken  over  from  the  religious  language  of  His 
time.  In  taking  it  over  He  added  to  its  con- 
tent and  so  altered  its  meaning.  Jesus  changed 
the  thing  and  kept  the  word.  To  Him  the  head 
of  the  Kingdom  was  not  King  but  Father — 
**  Our  Father  who  art  in  Heaven  :  Thy  King- 
dom   come."     We    are    only    following    His 


184  The  New  World 

example,  who  came  not  to  destroy  but  to 
fulfill. 

This  care  to  avoid  needless  break  with  the 
past  applies  to  the  statement  of  all  doctrine. 
Of  course  when  a  doctrine  has  become  mean- 
ingless or  useless  it  would  be  absurd  to  ad- 
vocate its  retention,  but  in  that  case  it  is  not 
worth  while  bothering  about  it ;  for  it  simply 
gets  eliminated  for  all  practical  purposes.  But 
the  great  needs  and  ideals  remain  pretty  con- 
stant. The  big  f  undam^ental  things  of  man's  re- 
lation to  God,  of  God's  relation  to  Jesus,  of  the 
work  of  Christ  for  the  world  can  be  still  stated 
in  old  phraseology.  The  heart  of  them  remains 
the  same.  We  risk  something  if  we  needlessly 
change  and  lose  the  impulse  of  the  whole  past. 

In  any  case  the  spirit  of  our  action  is  more 
important  than  the  action  itself.  I  recognize 
that  if  we  had  to  make  a  new  creed  for  our 
day,  both  the  words  and  the  concepts  would 
need  change.  Whether  we  seek  to  change  or 
not,  it  is  surely  right  and  wise  to  keep  in  the 
great  tradition,  and  not  to  sail  over  uncharted 
seas.  It  is  the  duty  and  privilege  of  some  to 
go  out  on  great  intellectual  adventure.     We 


Principles  of  Reconstruction    185 

must  offer  an  opea  gate  out  to  discoverers  and 
an  open  port  home  when  they  return  with  the 
tale  of  their  triumphs.  We  will  add  their  new 
knowledge  to  the  long  story  of  the  soul's 
achievements,  but  we  will  not  forget  that  past 
story  nor  let  go  our  heritage. 

The  principle,  that  we  have  to  think  of  the 
ages  as  well  as  the  age,  applies  also  to  our  re- 
lation to  the  Church  as  an  organization  to-day. 
It  will  be  a  loss  to  ourselves,  and  a  loss  to 
the  Church,  and  through  that  a  loss  to  the 
world,  if  we  cut  loose.  We  can  put  the  em- 
phasis on  what  we  consider  the  true  things 
and  leave  room  also  for  growth,  and  at  the 
same  time  hold  by  the  necessary  principle  of 
continuity.  This  is  needed  for  effectiveness. 
Above  all  question  of  the  nature  of  the  Church 
or  the  character  of  its  ministry,  is  the  question 
of  its  purpose.  It  exists  as  the  instrument  to 
bring  the  Kingdom  of  God  to  men  and  to 
bring  men  into  the  Kingdom.  In  loyalty  to 
its  Founder  and  to  His  purpose  lies  the  one 
and  only  test.  Identity  of  opinion  would  be  a 
weakness  and  not  a  real  strength  ;  for  the  high- 
est unity  in  all  human  relations  is  not  uniform- 


i86  The  New  World 

ity  but  unity  in  and  through  difference.  As  a 
fact  in  spite  of  all  seeming,  no  society  of  men 
could  be  kept  together  for  a  day  on  a  basis  of 
common  opinion.  We  belong  to  the  Church 
not  because  we  all  see  eye  to  eye  on  all  ques- 
tions of  speculation,  but  because  we  all  see 
something  of  the  vision  and  seek  to  bring  it  to 
pass.  To  make  the  Church  an  effective  agent 
for  its  work  in  the  world  we  must  repress  in 
ourselves  mere  divisive  courses. 

There  is  a  sin  that  we  have  the  right  to  call 
the  sin  of  schism.  It  is  not  always  those  called 
schismatics  who  have  committed  that  sin.  Not 
John  Wesley,  but  the  English  Church  that 
drove  him  out,  sinned  the  sin  of  schism.  Great 
departure  may  be  now  and  again  needed,  but 
progress  is  by  evolution  not  by  revolution.  It 
may  be  said  that  the  Christian  Church  is  itself 
a  great  departure,  but  it  was  not  by  the  will  of 
Jesus.  He  would  have  grafted  it  onto  the  old. 
He  has  been  sometimes  called  an  open-air 
preacher,  but  it  was  because  the  synagogue  was 
closed  to  Ilim.  Similarly  with  Paul  and  the 
apostles,  they  made  for  the  synagogue  in  every 
town  which  they  visited  and  only  turned  to  the 


Principles  of  Reconstruction   187 

Gentiles  when   the  Jews  thought  themselves 
unworthy  of  eternal  life. 

If  it  become  a  choice  between  stifling  the 
free  spirit  and  holding  a  barren  form,  we  must 
choose  the  way  of  freedom  even  if  it  means  go- 
ing out  into  the  wilderness.  Surely,  however, 
with  mutual  Christian  charity  and  courtesy 
Christian  men  can  live  and  work  together  and 
make  the  Church  serve  the  needs  of  the  modern 
world.  Let  it  not  be  said  that  a  narrow  liberal- 
ism made  this  impossible  by  an  insolent  disre- 
gard of  the  past.  Some  one  has  said  that  the 
form  of  religion  which  denies  its  ancestry  is  not 
likely  to  afflict  the  world  with  posterity.  To 
acknowledge  our  debt  to  the  past  is  a  sure  sign 
that  we  have  something  to  give  to  the  present. 
Goethe,  who  declared  that  the  man  who  would 
have  a  useful  influence  on  his  time  should  insult 
nothing,  adds,  "  Let  him  not  trouble  himself 
about  what  is  absurd ;  let  him  concentrate  his 
energy  on  bringing  to  light  of  good  things. 
He  is  bound  not  to  overthrow  but  to  build  up." 
The  world  broadens  slowly  from  precedent  to 
precedent,  and  the  age  we  seek  to  serve  is  itself 
the  heir  of  the  ages. 


VIII 
The  Things  that  Remain 


This  word  signifieth  the  removing  of  those  thing* 
that  are  shaken  as  of  things  that  have  been  made, 
that  those  things  which  cannot  be  shaken  may 
remain. — Episde  to  Hebrews. 


YIII 

THE  THINGS  THAT  REMAIN 

UR  age  has  known  the  search- 
ing,  chastening  power  of 
change,  and  religion  has 
passed  under  the  tribulation 
of  it  more  completely  than 
anything  else.  There  has  been  a  disintegrating 
process,  and  naturally  we  have  thought  much 
of  the  many  things  that  are  shaken.  Many 
of  the  formularies  by  which  the  Church  ex- 
pressed her  faith  are  seen  to  be  inadequate  for 
an  age  affected  by  the  scientific  spirit.  Some 
items  of  ancient  belief  are  discredited,  and  some 
have  been  simply  displaced  among  educated 
men.  In  a  previous  chapter  we  analyzed  the 
forces  which  have  been  at  work.  The  whole 
theory  of  the  universe  with  which  ancient  the- 
ology was  bound  up,  explaining  its  origin  and 
presaging  its  destiny,  has  had  to  be  disentangled 

from  modern  religious  faith. 

191 


192  T'he  New  World 

It  is  natural  that  in  calculating  loss  and  gain 
we  should  be  at  first  affected  chiefly  by  the 
sense  of  loss.  We  think  of  the  comfort  of  an- 
cient ways  of  thinking,  and  of  the  vanished 
grace  of  ancient  days.  When  earth  and  heaven 
are  shaken  we  are  fearful  of  the  loss  of  things 
precious  to  the  soul.  Amid  all  the  wreckage 
will  the  foundations  themselves  hold  fast  ?  In 
the  shakings  and  changes,  in  the  loss  of  vener- 
able opinions  and  of  old  presuppositions,  is 
anything  left  sacred  and  secure?  When  the 
crucible  swallows  up  Bible  and  creeds  and 
hallowed  institutions,  will  any  pure  gold  be 
given  back  to  us  from  the  melting?  This 
mood  of  fearful  questioning  is  natural,  but  the 
time  comes  to  count  up  gain  as  well  as  loss. 
We  look  to  see  what  consolations  come  through 
the  trials  of  our  time.  From  the  vanishing  of 
the  things  that  are  shaken  we  ask  what  are  the 
things  that  remain  ? 

Often  history  has  shown  that  in  a  time  of 
change  much  that  seemed  to  be  loss  proves  to 
be  really  gain,  if  only  in  turning  the  mind  from 
the  provisional  and  accidental  to  the  true  essen- 
tial.    Amid  all  the  distresses  of  a  changing  or- 


The  Things  that  Remain     193 

der  the  soul  reaches  the  unchanging  order  to 
be  found  in  communion  with  God.  Men  dis- 
cover that  what  they  thought  necessary  parts 
of  truth  were  only  veils  which  obscured  the 
splendour.  With  anguish  they  saw  the  veil 
removed,  only  to  find  a  purer  light  stream  in. 
It  is  a  law  of  every  crisis  of  change  that  gain 
comes  through  the  painful  discipline  of  loss. 
This  very  experience  itself  is  part  of  the  assured 
profit  in  the  final  summing  up. 

At  all  times  we  recognize  a  danger  of  con- 
fusing the  accidental  with  the  essential,  but  it 
is  specially  prominent  in  times  of  change. 
Many  things  to-day  have  been  shaken,  above 
all  the  whole  idea  of  authority.  Weak  and 
sluggish  human  nature  longs  for  infallibility  of 
some  sort  on  which  to  rest — an  infallible 
Church,  an  infallible  creed,  an  infallible  book. 
When  these  fail,  as  fail  they  do,  it  seems  a 
remediless  calamity.  To  many  it  means  the 
wreck  of  faith.  But  should  it  be  so  ?  May  it 
not  be  that  the  authority  of  Bible  or  creed  or 
Church  creates  the  danger  of  interposing  some- 
thing between  the  soul  and  God,  endangering 
true    personal    religion?    Faith    should    spell 


194  7^^  New  World 

courage  in  the  face  of  the  crumbling  of  external 
authority.  We  discover  that  all  is  not  lost. 
We  come  back  to  the  Bible  and  find  in  it  food 
for  the  soul.  In  it  is  the  classic  and  normal 
religious  life.  We  find  the  creed  expressing 
for  its  time  the  great  experience  of  faith.  We 
find  the  Church  to  be  our  natural  home  among 
men  who  care  for  the  things  of  the  spirit. 

The  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
deals  with  a  historical  situation  which  in  many 
remarkable  ways  resembles  the  present.  For 
Jews  who  had  become  Christians  there  was  the 
same  crisis  which  seemed  like  the  crash  of  the 
old  world.  They  too  had  to  abandon  the  let- 
ter of  their  sacred  Scripture.  They  lost  the 
comfort  of  their  ancient  ritual.  They  had  to 
give  up  their  national  hope  sanctioned  alike  by 
religion  and  patriotism.  If  they  went  on  to 
follow  the  fortunes  of  the  new  faith,  they  would 
feel  themselves  outcasts  from  the  immemorial 
commonwealth  of  God.  They  seemed  to  lose 
so  much  that  they  were  tempted  to  draw  back. 
The  writer  sets  himself  to  show  that  they  only 
lose  the  shadow  and  gain  the  substance,  they 
lose  the  type  and  gain  the  reality,  they  lose  the 


The  Things  that  Remain    195 

transitory  and  gain  the  eternal.  He  tells  them 
that  the  things  that  are  shaken  are  removed 
that  the  unshakeable  things  may  remain. 

It  would  be  useless  and  stupid  to  deny  that 
old  landmarks  have  disappeared  and  that  our 
time  has  seen  an  upheaval  of  cherished  things, 
"which  has  brought  a  crisis  as  great  as  the 
breakdown  of  Judaism  was  to  the  first  Chris- 
tian generation.  Like  them  we  are  tempted  to 
look  back  longingly  to  the  settled  times  when 
the  soul  dwelt  securely  among  certainties.  We 
are  tempted  also  to  wonder  whether  anything 
gained  was  worth  the  price  that  has  been  paid. 
The  hardest  part  of  the  price  is  the  loss  of 
peace.  A  state  of  doubt  is  never  a  comfortable 
condition,  especially  when  it  is  doubt  of  some- 
thing once  held  sacred.  To  very  many  the 
present  distress  is  due  to  vague  doubt,  spread- 
ing misgiving  on  everything  religious.  It 
would  be  well  to  make  plain  to  ourselves  where 
exactly  the  prevalent  doubt  operates.  Doubts 
of  the  Church  do  not  mean  doubt  of  the  value 
of  religion,  nor  doubt  of  the  great  contribution 
it  has  made  in  the  past  to  the  world,  but  doubt 
as  to  whether  it  is  rising  to  its  opportunity  to- 


196  The  New  World 

day  and  is  giving  adequate  expression  to  the 
soul  of  modern  man. 

When  we  speak  of  religion  we  do  not  usually 
distinguish  clearly  the  sense  in  which  we  use 
the  word,  and  we  often  mix  up  things  which  are 
really  separate.  There  are  four  distinct  mean- 
ings, or  rather  the  one  subject  appears  in  four 
separate  departments.  There  is  first  of  all  that 
which  alone  is  religion  in  the  true  sense,  namely 
the  spiritual  experience  which  links  man  to  the 
world  of  higher  realities.  We  sometimes  try  to 
emphasize  this  sense  of  the  word  by  calling  it 
personal  religion,  or  experimental  religion,  but 
as  a  matter  of  fact  the  heart  of  all  religion  is  a 
spiritual  experience.  It  is  an  attitude  which 
the  soul  takes  to  God,  a  relation  in  which  the 
life  stands  to  God.  Acts  of  worship  such  as 
prayer  presuppose  a  fellowship  with  the  eternal. 
Religion  is  not  confined  to  the  private  and  per- 
sonal attitude  ;  for  it  is  a  social  experience  also, 
but  in  any  case  it  is  in  this  region  that  religion 
is  born. 

But  this  experience  claims  intellectual  state- 
ment.    It  cannot  be  left  as  vague  feeling.    The 


The  "Things  that  Remain     197 

mind  will  always  want  to  understand  and  in- 
terpret the  experience.  This  is  the  place  of 
theology.  A  great  deal  of  our  trouble  is  due  to 
the  natural  confusion  between  religion  and  the- 
ology— so  much  so  that  some  seem  to  think 
that  it  is  not  necessary  to  have  any  theology 
at  all.  But  the  theology  of  a  period  is  only 
the  attempt  made  at  that  time  to  express  the 
faith  held  by  believers  and  to  state  the  contents 
of  the  Gospel  as  received  and  understood  by 
them.  It  is  true  that  the  religious  life  does 
not  depend  on  any  intellectual  understanding 
of  metaphysical  doctrine.  It  does  not  depend 
on  correct  thinking,  and  when  the  two  are 
joined  a  protest  is  inevitable  in  the  interests  of 
religion.  But  in  every  sphere  when  we  get 
facts  we  naturally  seek  for  a  theory  to  explain 
them.  If  this  be  so,  we  need  not  plume  our- 
selves that  we  can  do  without  theology. 

Further,  religion  works  itself  out  in  life,  and 
produces  a  code  of  conduct,  a  system  of  prac- 
tical ethics.  The  Church  has  therefore  to  teach 
the  implications  of  Christian  faith  in  actual 
living.  It  has  a  standard  of  morality,  virtues 
which  it  encourages,  duties  which  it  imposes, 


198  The  New  IForld 

evils  which  it  denounces.  There  is  a  character- 
istic type  which  gets  looked  on  as  the  natural 
fruit  of  the  faith.  Eeligion  seeks  to  enforce  a 
personal  morality,  with  the  marks  of  what  it 
would  call  a  good  man.  Since  man  also  lives 
in  society,  the  morality  has  to  have  some  social 
bearing,  and  religion  teaches  an  ideal  of  con- 
duct to  others  and  points  to  a  better  state  of 
society.  In  past  centuries  the  Church  has  suc- 
cessfully raised  the  standard  of  personal  mo- 
rality, and  has  enthroned  certain  things  as  good 
and  branded  others  as  evil. 

Again,  religion  embodies  itself  in  institu- 
tions^ among  which  is  the  institution  which  we 
call  the  Church,  the  social  groups  who  use  prac- 
tical ways  of  achieving  their  common  purpose 
and  expressing  their  common  faith.  Life  must 
clothe  itself  in  institutions.  As  we  cannot  con- 
ceive ourselves  as  disembodied  spirits,  life  must 
be  embodied  somehow.  The  practical  prob- 
lems we  have  are  due  to  confusion  between  the 
two.  The  life  creates  the  institution,  and  yet 
the  institution  sometimes  terrorizes  over  the 
life,  as  the  body  chains  the  soul.  Eeligion  em- 
bodies itself  practically  in  the  Church.     Church 


The  Things  that  Remain     199 

of  some  kind  there  must  be,  if  there  is  to  be  re- 
ligion, but  the  two  are  not  identical. 

When  we  speak  of  Christianity  we  do  not 
always  distinguish  in  our  own  mind  which  of 
these  four  aspects  of  it  we  mean.  It  is  pri- 
marily religion,  but  it  is  also  a  way  of  thinking 
or  theology,  and  a  way  of  living  or  ethics,  and 
a  set  of  institutions  commonly  summed  up  by 
us  in  the  word  Church.  Criticism  may  be  di- 
rected at  each  of  these  different  aspects.  It 
may  ask  whether  the  experience  of  religion  is 
real.  Granted  that,  it  may  ask  whether  the 
way  of  thinking  of  the  experience  is  intelligent 
and  true.  It  may  also  ask  whether  the  way  of 
living  is  the  best,  whether  the  ethics  is  the 
highest.  Or  it  may  ask  if  the  institution  of 
the  Church  is  fitted  to  serve  the  purposes  of 
religion.  All  these  are  legitimate  spheres  of 
criticism.  The  mistake  is  in  confusing  these 
different  things.  It  is  not  to  the  disparagement 
of  religion  that  objection  can  be  raised  against 
the  forms  in  which  religion  organizes  itself. 

While  theology  of  some  sort  is  a  necessity, 
no  particular  theology  is  sacred.     One  great 


200  The  New  World 

good  from  the  disintegrating  process  of  our 
time  is  that  we  are  done  with  the  idea  of 
finality.  We  see  that  in  every  age  the  theory 
of  religious  life  presents  itself  differently,  and 
this  is  largely  brought  about  through  the  in- 
fluence of  other  contemporary  thought  of  the 
world  as  a  whole.  We  cannot  hold  certain 
definite  scientific  views  regarding  the  relation 
of  man  to  the  universe  without  these  views 
affecting  religious  thought.  We  can  never  as- 
sent to  a  theology  which  binds  the  mind  to  the 
bondage  of  dogma.  Faith  is  not  the  intel- 
lectual apprehension  of  any  proposition  how- 
ever true.  The  Christian  salvation  means  the 
fellowship  with  God  into  which  Christ  brings 
the  human  soul,  and  whatever  it  may  be  ac- 
companied with  of  thinking  about  God  and 
Christ  and  that  fellowship,  it  does  not  depend 
on  the  thinking ;  and  men  have  known  the  fel- 
lowship who  could  not  put  their  experience  into 
rational  propositions.  It  follows  therefore  that 
a  creed  may  break  down  and  have  to  be  changed 
without  religion  itself  being  affected.  Indeed 
when  religion  is  identified  with  intellectual  ac- 
ceptance  of  creed,  it  is  well  that  the  storm 


T'he  Things  that  Remain     201 

should  come  and  shake  earth  and  heaven, 
that  those  things  that  cannot  be  shaken  may 
remain. 

Similarly  there  is  room  for  criticism  of 
ordinary  Christian  ethics  as  well  as  of  Chris- 
tian theology.  The  Christian  way  of  living  of 
our  time  is  no  more  sacred  than  the  wa}''  of 
thinking.  The  standard  of  personal  morality 
has  been  raised  in  the  Christian  centuries,  and 
that  heritage  must  not  be  endangered.  It  still 
remains  a  task  of  the  Church  to  create  men  fit 
to  be  members  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
But  it  is  also  true  that  a  bigger  task  is  before 
us  to  create  a  state  of  society  worthy  for  a 
Christian  man  to  live  in.  The  great  need  is 
the  development  of  ethics  dealing  with  the 
social  life.  The  contrasts  of  wealth  and  pov- 
erty were  never  more  startling,  not  because 
they  are  more  in  fact  but  because  the  world  is 
more  sensitive  to  the  contrast.  It  is  no  longer 
enough  to  preach  contentment  to  the  poor  and 
charity  to  the  rich.  The  conscience  of  some  of 
the  wealthy  is  sufficiently  exercised  to  make 
them  look  on  philanthropy  as  a  duty,  but  the 
new  ethical  standards  are  not  content  with  tliis. 


202  T'he  New  World 


The  Church  has  asked  men  to  consider  how 
they  spend  money.  It  will  ask  them  rather  to 
consider  how  they  earn  it.  We  need  new  social 
ethics  and  new  international  ethics.  If  the 
leaders  of  thought  hark  back  to  the  old  and 
show  no  courage  and  faith  in  anticipating  the 
new,  there  can  only  be  calamity  in  the  shaking 
of  earth  and  heaven. 

There  is  room  also  for  criticism  of  the  in- 
stitutions created  by  Christianity.  Here  also 
the  way  out  is  forward  not  backward.  If  we 
tie  up  the  spirit  with  the  letter,  the  life  with 
the  institution,  we  risk  the  loss  of  the  essential 
with  the  accidental.  As  in  every  sphere  of 
human  affairs  the  life  creates  the  institution, 
and  is  in  turn  menaced  by  it.  It  is  ever  in 
danger  of  being  devoured  by  its  children.  The 
free  political  life  of  Kevolutionary  times  in 
America  created  the  Constitution,  and  the  Con- 
stitution becomes  a  fetish  that  hampers  free- 
dom. The  free  religious  life  of  the  first  Chris- 
tian centuries  created  the  creeds,  and  the 
creeds  become  sacred  and  immobile  and  crush 
the  freedom  of  the  spirit.  The  religious  life  of 
the  Reformation  issued  in  Confessions,  like  the 


The  Things  that  Remain    203 

Westminster  Confession,  which  threaten  the 
life  that  gave  them  birth.  Eeligicn  embodies 
itself  practically  in  the  Church,  and  we  have 
often  to  apologize  for  the  Church  in  the  in- 
terests of  religion.  We  have  to  assert  again 
the  freedom  of  life  to  create  anew  its  instru- 
ments and  its  organizations. 

When  we  refuse  to  tie  up  religion  with  its 
present  particular  forms,  we  realize  that  the 
two  do  not  stand  and  fall  together.  The  form 
is  temporary  and  transitory;  the  spirit  is 
eternal.  Even  when  the  one  is  shaken,  the 
other  remains.  Eeligion  remains,  because  man 
remains — his  achievements,  and  history,  and 
experience,  and  above  all  his  needs.  And  God 
remains,  whose  desire  has  been  towards  men, 
who  has  led  men  up  to  spiritual  communion, 
and  who  has  met  and  satisfied  the  deepest 
needs  of  man.  What  is  more,  it  does  not  mean, 
when  the  storm  has  shaken  and  shattered  the 
past  forms  in  ^vhich  men  trusted,  that  we  are 
left  naked  and  impoverished.  When  we  look 
closer,  we  discover  that  all  the  values  remain 
even  in  the  external  forms  in  which  religion 


204  The  New  World 

has  clothed  itself.  Bible  and  creed  and  Church 
are  not  really  taken  from  us. 

AVe  have  lost  a  false  view  of  the  Bible,  and 
have  gained  a  truer  one.  Biblical  criticism  has 
analyzed  the  various  books  of  the  Bible  and  has 
altered  previous  views  of  dates  and  authorship. 
It  has  deprived  them  of  the  ancient  infallible 
authority  with  which  they  had  been  invested. 
This  has  only  given  them  a  new  authority. 
They  have  lost  nothing  of  their  significance  as 
records  of  the  development  of  religion.  They 
have  been  robbed  of  none  of  their  value  as  ex- 
pressions of  the  spiritual  life.  The  Bible  re- 
mains as  the  great  storehouse  of  religious  ideas 
and  ideals.  It  is  still  the  classic  literature  of 
religion,  and  the  history  of  faith,  and  the 
record  of  the  great  experiences  of  the  soul  of 
man.  The  roots  of  our  best  life  are  deep  in  its 
soil.  Our  reverence  for  the  Bible  is  only  deep- 
ened when  we  bring  to  it  all  the  equipment  of 
knowledge.  AYe  see  how  it  touches  the  life  of 
man  at  every  point.  We  see  how  it  sets  forth 
and  extols  the  ultimate  values  of  life. 

Huxley  in  opposing  the  removal  of  the  Bible 
from  the  London  schools  wrote,  '^  How  is  the 


The  T/ii?tgs  that  Re7?iain    205 

religious  feeling,  which  is  the  essential  basis  of 
conduct,  to  be  kept  up  in  the  present  utterly 
chaotic  state  of  opinion  without  the  Bible  ?  By 
the  study  of  what  other  book  could  children  be 
humanized  and  made  to  feel  that  each  figure  in 
the  vast  historical  procession  fills,  like  them- 
selves, but  a  momentary  space  in  the  interval 
between  two  eternities,  and  earns  the  blessings 
or  the  curses  of  all  time  according  to  its  efforts 
to  do  good  and  hate  evil."  The  religious  soul 
knows  more  value  in  the  Bible  than  even  all 
that,  has  had  experience  of  moral  and  spiritual 
enlightenment,  has  through  the  Bible  seen  the 
radiance  of  the  love  of  Christ  and  heard  the 
gracious  speech  that  would  win  us  to  God. 
The  old  false  authority  has  gone,  but  who  can 
fail  to  see  in  the  Bible  the  authority  of  spiri- 
tual vision  ?  Who  can  fail  to  thrill  to  its  mes- 
sage of  power  and  love  and  hope  ? 

We  have  lost  a  false  view  of  the  Church  and 
have  gained  a  truer  one.  There  have  been 
theories  of  the  Church  which  have  ministered 
to  superstition,  to  intellectual  servility,  and  to 
moral  decadence.     If  these  theories  are  now  en- 


2o6  T'he  New  World 

(langered  it  is  a  good  riddance.  A  magical 
view  of  sacraments  and  a  sacerdotal  view  of  the 
ministry  make  for  a  certain  kind  of  comfort. 
It  is  pleasant  in  any  stress  of  conscience,  or  in 
any  doubt  of  duty,  or  in  any  difficulty  of  faith, 
to  shut  the  eyes  and  fall  back  into  the  arms  of 
mother  Church.  There  is  an  immense  tempta- 
tion to  many  people,  and  perhaps  to  all  in  cer- 
tain moods,  to  get  rid  of  obstinate  questionings 
and  blank  misgivings  by  handing  over  the  whole 
business  to  an  institution  which  claims  infalli- 
bility. It  is  a  false  security  and  a  false  author- 
ity. Moral  life  is  developed  like  all  other  life 
by  taking  all  the  risks.  In  great  moral  crises 
we  are  thrown  back  on  self,  on  conscience,  on 
God.  We  can  get  counsel,  comfort,  support, 
reenforcement  from  without,  but  in  the  last  is- 
sue none  can  take  from  us  the  burden  of  deci- 
sion and  of  conflict. 

This  is  not  to  say  that  we  are  single  souls 
fighting  a  lone  battle,  going  to  triumph  or  de- 
feat in  solitude.  There  is  a  place  for  the 
Church  which  is  a  Brotherhood  of  kindred 
spirits.  There  is  a  place  even  for  the  Church 
as  the  minister  to  sick  souls,  bracing  the  con- 


The  Things  that  Remain    207 

science,  strengthening  the  will,  enlightening  the 
mind,  comforting  the  heart,  cleansing  the  life, 
inspiring  the  soul.  There  is  a  place  also  for  the 
Church  of  common  purpose,  the  company  of 
courageous  and  believing  men  and  women,  who 
have  seen  the  vision  and  seek  to  realize  it,  who 
work  for  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom.  There 
is  room  for  public  worship,  and  common 
prayer,  and  mutual  help.  It  is  not  possible  in 
a  short  paragraph  to  state  all  that  the  Church 
is  and  can  be,  but  when  its  false  authority  is 
gone  it  is  seen  invested  with  a  true  authority. 
"We  still  are  comforted  by  the  communion  of 
the  saints,  and  befriended  by  the  company  of 
the  disciples,  and  inspired  by  the  fellow^ship  of 
the  prophets.  We  come  to  Mount  Zion,  the 
city  of  the  living  God,  to  the  spirits  of  just  men 
made  perfect,  and  to  Jesus  who  mediates  the 
new  covenant. 

Also,  we  have  lost  a  false  view  of  creed  and 
have  gained  a  truer  one.  From  the  distinction 
ever  to  be  maintained  between  religion  and 
theology  it  follows  that  we  can. not  judge  a 
Christian  man  bj  his  intellectual  acceptance  of 


2o8  The  New  World 

creed.  This  means  also  a  lesson  in  charity  and 
in  patience.  We  see  that  the  theology  of  an 
age  or  a  man  is  apt  to  lag  behind  their  faith. 
It  follows  on  halting  foot,  and  often  the  form 
persists  long  after  the  spirit  has  changed.  The 
personal  religion  of  a  period  may  have  little 
connection  with  its  formulated  creed,  though 
there  is  a  constant  effort  on  the  part  of 
theology  to  reflect  the  faith  of  the  time.  A 
Church  cannot  alter  its  creed  until  the  opinion 
of  the  great  majority  of  its  members  demands 
the  change.  Before  the  Church  officially  can 
take  action,  the  personal  faith  of  the  Church 
must  have  for  years  departed  from  the  points 
affected.     We  see  also  that  no  dogma  is  final. 

The  reaction  against  theology  has  perhaps 
gone  too  far.  The  mind  of  man  certainly  de- 
mands some  scientific  system,  the  record  of 
discovered  truth,  and  unless  we  affirm  that 
here  truth  is  undiscoverable  it  is  absurd  to 
deny  a  place  for  theology.  Every  system  is 
only  a  temporary  working  one  till  a  better 
and  truer  comes.  The  Ptolemaic  system  of 
astronomy  was  broken  down  by  criticism,  a 
growing  inability   to    account    for  the  facts. 


The  Things  that  Remain    209 

Many  might  give  it  up  in  despair  and  deny 
the  possibility  of  a  science  of  astronomy  at 
all.  Then  came  the  new  Copernican  theory 
with  a  new  distribution  of  the  facts,  and  a 
new  explanation,  making  a  new  system.  It 
was  the  same  science :  it  did  not  alter  the 
facts,  the  sun  and  stars  and  movements. 

The  old  theology  has  been  subjected  to 
criticism,  incessant,  unsparing.  Men  are  say- 
ing in  despair  that  there  is  no  need  for  the- 
ology, and  that  we  must  do  away  with  doc- 
trine. But  the  human  mind  cannot  help 
systematizing,  and  the  faith  must  again 
crystallize  itself  into  a  new  system.  It  too 
will  be  the  same  science.  The  facts  will  re- 
main the  same.  Newton's  hypothesis  did  not 
affect  the  existence  of  the  sun  and  the  planets. 
The  facts  of  religion  are  unalterable,  God  and 
Christ  and  man's  need,  and  the  experience  of 
spiritual  things.  There  can  only  be  a  new 
statement  of  relationship.  The  realities  are 
the  same,  though  we  approach  them  differ- 
ently. 

For  example,  to-day  we  start  often  from 
psychology,  but  no  psychological  explanation 


210  The  New  World 

does  away  with  the  facts  it  tries  to  illustrate. 
"We  may  analyze  the  human  will  and  describe 
its  working  in  conversion^  but  conversion  re- 
mains none  the  less  a  fact  after  we  have  ac- 
counted for  it.  If  there  is  a  normal  Christian 
experience,  it  is  likely  that  it  will  lit  in  pretty 
easily  with  a  normal  creed.  It  has  of  course  a 
history  of  development ;  it  ran  on  Greek  lines 
of  thought  till  it  was  formulated  in  the  Nicene 
Creed ;  it  got  a  more  Latin  form  from  Augus- 
tine and  ran  again  in  the  Western  world ;  once 
more  at  the  Reformation  it  was  revivified. 
To-day  we  call  for  men  to  state  it  in  terms  of 
the  new  knowledge,  believing  that  Christianity 
will  get  only  a  richer  interpretation  from  every 
widening  process  of  the  mind  of  man. 

We  will  probably  discover  even  in  the  matter 
of  creed  that  there  will  not  be  so  much  difference 
in  the  important  matters  as  some  have  feared. 
The  facts  will  only  be  differently  stated.  This 
because  we  approach  them  differently.  The 
older  theology  began  with  a  presupposition 
about  God,  declared  His  nature  and  attributes 
and  character.     From  that  it  proceeded  to  a 


T'he  T'hings  that  Remain    211 

doctrine  of  man  and  a  doctrine  of  sin.  Then 
it  stated  its  doctrine  of  salvation.  And  so  on 
through  a  strictly  consistent  system  to  a  doc- 
trine of  the  last  things.  It  is  a  magnificently 
logical  system,  which  if  you  grant  the  premises 
carries  you  to  its  conclusion.  It  really  tries  to 
do  too  much ;  for  it  puts  the  whole  universe, 
including  God,  into  a  series  of  propositions. 
But  it  does  seek  to  explain  facts  in  the  nature 
of  man,  and  facts  of  history,  and  of  experience. 
To-day  we  rather  begin  with  these  facts, 
facts  which  can  be  observed  and  investigated. 
We  begin  with  the  sciences  that  deal  with  man, 
psychology,  sociology.  "We  take  man  with  his 
religious  history  and  his  spiritual  experience, 
and  make  a  presupposition  about  him.  The 
presupposition  is  that  man  is  by  nature  such 
that  he  seeks  and  can  find  communion  with 
God,  that  he  bends  to  an  authority  above  him 
and  moves  to  an  impulse  within  him.  We  may 
describe  this  in  different  form,  but  it  means  the 
same  as  the  old  saying  that  man  in  some  sense 
is  made  in  the  image  of  God.  The  whole  his- 
tory of  religion  declares  that  man  was  born  for 
the  love  of  God,  and  is  restless  until  he  finds 


212 


The  New  World 


rest  in  Him.  This  implies  a  doctrine  of  God, 
and  when  we  state  that  however  imperfectly 
we  are  at  once  brought  up  against  the  tragic 
fact  of  man's  exclusion  from  his  own  best  life, 
of  man's  alienation  from  God.  There  is  the 
tragic  fissure  in  man's  nature,  the  failure  to  be 
or  to  do  as  he  would,  so  that  the  cry  that 
sounds  through  the  centuries  finds  response  in 
his  heart,  "  O  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who 
shall  deliver  me  from  this  body  of  death  ? " 
We  may  explain  this  differently,  we  may  de- 
scribe it  in  other  words,  but  we  are  stating 
what  amounts  to  a  doctrine  of  sin,  and  if  we 
have  no  doctrine  of  salvation  to  offer  we  may 
as  well  shut  our  mouths.  So  that  the  differ- 
ence is  largely  one  of  approach.  Modern  the- 
ology is  not  so  ambitious,  does  not  pretend  to 
pronounce  on  God's  attributes,  nor  to  give  a 
theory  of  the  universe,  to  explain  how  it  began 
and  how  it  shall  end.  But  the  facts  of  man's 
life  and  history  get  their  place,  and  that  place 
does  not  differ  essentially  from  the  older  views. 
For,  of  the  things  that  cannot  be  shaken, 
there  remains  the  Kingdom  of  God  as  the 
religious  ideal  of  the  race.     It  carries  with  it 


T'he  Things  that  Remain    213 

the  ideal  of  service,  even  to  the  height  of 
sacrifice.  This  has  gripped  the  conscience  of 
the  world  to-day  as  never  before.  But  it  can 
only  live  if  it  is  fed  by  some  sense  of  eternal 
values.  In  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  bound  up  in 
the  bundle  of  human  life,  and  who  lived  and 
died  for  the  Kingdom  of  God,  we  have  the 
pledge  and  the  promise  that  man  is  more  than 
the  child  of  time.  He  proves  His  power  to  lead 
men  still  into  faith  in  God  and  communion  with 
Him.  To  those  who  trust  Him  there  still 
comes  the  peace  which  passeth  all  under- 
standing. 


IX 

The  Victory  of  Faith 


One  in  whom  persuasion  and  belief 
Had  ripened  into  faith,  and  faith  become 
A  passionate  intuition. 

—  Wordsworth* 


IX 

THE  VICTORY  OF  FAITH 


E  have  seen  that  in  spite  of  all 
that  seems  shaken  much  re- 
mains, and  we  have  indicated 
that  everything  of  ultimate 
value  remains.  It  is  not  merely 
that  to  a  strong  and  true  heart  there  always 
remains  courage^  though  that  stoical  attitude 
may  be  a  fine  nobility.  In  the  distresses  and 
surprises  of  life  courage,  even  when  it  is  only 
grim  determination  to  hold  by  life  and  life's 
tested  values,  is  not  to  be  despised  as  a  motive. 
It  has  given  us  many  instances  of  heroism  in 
practical  life.  There  is  always  left  man's  un- 
conquerable soul.  Something  in  us  vibrates  to 
the  trumpet's  sound.  To  see  another  put  up  a 
brave  fight  with  life  commands  our  admiration. 
Courage  will  never  fail  of  its  meed  of  sincere 
respect. 

When  that  courage  is  more  than  stoic  despair, 

217 


2i8  The  New  World 

when  it  is  born  of  a  living  faith,  it  can  survive 
amid  the  crash  of  a  world,  when  earth  and 
heaven  seem  shaken.  True  courage  is  only 
another  name  for  faith.  "We  need  to  believe 
in  something  in  order  to  keep  going  in  the  face 
of  difficulties.  We  believe  that  we  will  win 
through,  or  we  believe  that  there  is  something 
worth  enduring  for  or  worth  dying  for.  There 
is  always  some  emotional  content  in  the  mood. 
Faith  of  some  sort  underlies  all  our  life.  "When 
the  faith  is  rich  and  warm  with  religion  it  be- 
comes the  assurance  of  things  hoped  for,  the 
proving  of  things  not  seen.  Faith  in  the  mean- 
ing of  life  and  in  the  value  of  the  future  is  easy 
to  hold  when  it  is  fed  by  faith  in  the  purpose 
of  God,  So  that  nothing  is  lost  if  faith  be  not 
lost. 

The  first  thing  of  importance  is  to  define 
what  we  mean  by  faith.  The  word  has  to 
carry  a  heavier  load  than  most  words,  ^t  runs 
up  through  the  whole  gamut  of  tones  of  mean- 
ing. It  is  because  it  is  so  universal  a  human 
quality  that  the  word  is  used  with  such  differ- 
ent shades  of  thought.     The  result  is  that  it  is 


The  Victory  of  Faith        2 1 9 

hard  to  keep  it  from  being  ambiguous.  Some- 
times faith  is  used  in  the  sense  of  credulity. 
Sometimes  it  carries  the  ugly  meaning  of  super- 
stition. The  schoolboy's  definition  of  faith  as 
"  believing  something  that  you  know  ain't 
true  "  is  even  a  common  enough  conception  of 
it.  Or  it  is  supposed  to  be  an  attitude  of  shut- 
ting the  eyes  and  opening  the  mouth,  a  blind 
acceptance  of  a  benefit  from  some  condescending 
donor.  In  "Alice  through  the  Looking-Glass  " 
the  Queen  tells  Alice  that  she  is  a  hundred  and 
one  years  five  months  and  one  day,  old.  "  I 
can't  believe  that,"  said  Alice.  "  Can't  you  ?  " 
the  Queen  said  in  a  pitying  tone.  "  Try  again, 
draw  a  long  breath  and  shut  your  eyes."  The 
word  has  sometimes  also  been  used  to  justify 
something  without  reason  and  even  against 
reason.  The  more  impossible  a  thing  is,  the 
more  credit  there  is  supposed  to  be  in  believing 
it — credo  quia  est  impossihile. 

What  a  man  means  by  faith  gives  a  sure  line 
on  what  he  means  by  religion ;  for  the  one  is 
the  reflection  of  the  other.  When  religion  is 
debased,  faith  is  a  kind  of  password  into  the 
lubberland  of  bliss.     When  religion  is  formal. 


220  T'he  New  World 


faith  is  the  key  to  the  easy  peace  of  ritual  and 
traditional  observance.  When  religion  is  dry 
orthodoxy,  faith  is  agreement  with  certain  prop- 
ositions. When  religion  is  spiritual,  faith  is 
the  agent  of  the  soul  and  is  the  pathway  to 
spiritual  reality.  Faith  acquires  a  rich  mean-, 
ing  and  exercises  a  vital  function,  when  religion 
has  its  place  of  power. 

There  are  some  legitimate  uses  of  the  word 
in  ordinary  life,  which,  however,  need  to  be 
distinguished  from  religious  faith.  For  in- 
stance in  common  speech  faith  rightly  enough 
means  intellectual  assent  to  truth.  It  is  the 
acceptance  by  the  mind  of  some  proved  fact  or 
some  deduction  from  fact,  as  when  a  man  says 
he  believes  that  two  parts  of  hydrogen  and  one 
of  oxygen  compose  water,  or  that  he  believes 
in  the  law  of  gravitation.  When  religion  calls 
on  us  to  have  more  faith,  it  does  not  mean  even 
that  we  should  have  more  beliefs,  more  correct 
opinions  and  doctrines,  or  a  better  elaborated 
system  of  thought,  or  a  truer  philosophy.  It 
is  a  much  simpler  thing  than  all  that.  These 
uses  of  the  word  are  in  the  region  of  opinion, 


The  Victory  of  Faith       221 

and  are  on  a  different  level  entirely.  The 
trouble  is  that  this  conception  of  faith  is  often 
carried  over  into  the  sphere  of  religion. 

One  obvious  objection  to  this  is  that  the 
propositions  which  satisfy  one  age  become  in- 
adequate for  another  age.  Indeed  some  of  the 
present  distress  is  due  to  this  very  fact.  Re- 
ligion was  tied  up  to  a  view  of  the  world  which 
modern  man  repudiates.  The  necessity  for  re- 
stating some  doctrines  arises  from  the  fact  that 
a  formula  which  at  one  time  satisfied  the  mind 
of  men  may  be  insufficient  now,  partly  because 
its  form  may  suggest  erroneous  ideas,  and 
partly  because  it  is  not  in  line  with  other 
knowledge.  Faith  cannot  be  the  same  as  pre- 
cision of  doctrinal  statement ;  for  as  we  have 
seen  there  can  be  no  absolute  precision.  The- 
ology is  merely  the  intellectual  attempt  to  state 
religious  facts  and  forces  in  terms  of  knowl- 
edge. "When  the  knowledge  changes,  the  state- 
ment has  to  change. 

There  is  a  deeper  objection  still,  a  religious 
objection.  We  must  protest  against  making 
faith  any  sort  of  scholasticism,  the  intellectual 
apprehension  of  any  propositions,  however  true. 


222  "The  New  U'^orld 

Men  instinctively  know  that  the  Christian  sal- 
vation does  not  depend  on  any  such  intellectual 
understanding  of  metaphysical  doctrines,  but 
is  a  deeper  and  more  spiritual  thing  than  that. 
The  religious  instinct  revolts  against  this  con- 
ception of  faith,  which  is  always  in  danger  of 
ousting  spiritual  religion.  The  Church  has  the 
right  to  make  its  official  interpretation  of  Chris- 
tianity and  formulate  it  in  a  creed,  but  that 
does  not  constitute  religion. 

Faith  is  an  attitude  of  the  soul  in  which  it 
makes  a  venture  on  life.  Through  it  we  make 
contact  with  a  world  of  spiritual  reality.  It  is 
proved  by  acting  on  the  assumption  that  it  is 
so  and  finding  it  to  be  so.  Faith  in  essence  is 
the  committal  of  self  to  God.  It  is  the  adven- 
turing of  one's  life  on  an  assurance,  the  entrust- 
ing of  self  on  God.  Of  course  this  cannot  be 
^eft  vague,  and  out  of  the  experience  there 
grow  propositions  which  the  experiencing  soul 
trusts,  but  the  two  are  not  identical.  The  cen- 
tral thing  is  the  experience  of  throwing  oneself 
on  an  unseen  spiritual  order  which  is  taken  on 
trust.     The  external  world  is  only  part  of  what 


The  Victory  of  Faith        223 


is,  and  beyond  it  there  unfolds  a  spiritual  realm, 
and  our  relation  to  that  is  the  most  important 
thing  in  our  life.  William  James  defines  it  for 
himself  thus,  "  A  man's  religious  faith  (what- 
ever more  special  items  of  doctrine  it  may  in- 
volve) means  for  me  essentially  his  faith  in  the 
existence  of  an  unseen  order  of  some  kind  in 
which  the  riddles  of  the  natural  order  may  be 
found  explained.  In  the  more  developed  re- 
ligions the  natural  world  has  always  been  re- 
garded as  the  mere  scaffolding  or  vestibule  of 
a  truer,  more  eternal  world,  and  affirmed  to  be 
a  sphere  of  education,  trial,  or  redemption." 

Faith  becomes  the  assurance  of  the  reality  of 
this  spiritual  world,  so  that  a  man  acts  on  it. 
It  is  the  power  by  which  he  lives,  the  light  by 
which  he  walks.  Faith  begins  by  staking  the 
life  on  what  the  intellect  sees  to  be  a  bare  pos- 
sibility, and  the  only  proof  it  can  have  is  that  it 
should  verify  itself.  When  we  define  it  thus 
and  see  what  it  is,  we  understand  why  such 
emphasis  should  be  laid  on  faith  by  all  men  of 
religion.  It  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped 
for.  This  is  inspiration,  that  a  man  should  be 
able  to  see  this.     Every  prophet  saw  it,  judged 


224  ^^^  New  World 

all  events  by  this  standard,  made  pronounce- 
ments on  history  and  life  through  this.  It  is 
what  made  them  prophets — the  assurance  of 
the  reality  of  the  spiritual  world. 

All  through  His  ministry  Jesus  seems  to  have 
been  constantly  brought  up  in  pained  surprise 
by  the  strange  discovery  that  men  had  so  little 
faith.  It  was  a  continual  wonder  to  Him. 
When  He  went  to  Nazareth,  and  found  no 
response  from  the  people  of  His  own  town,  we 
read  that  He  marvelled  at  their  unbelief.  To 
Him  who  lived  in  the  ever-present  conscious- 
ness of  God,  to  whom  the  spiritual  world  was 
His  home,  to  whom  the  unseen  was  the  natural, 
the  wonder  w^as  that  men  should  be  so  spiri- 
tually obtuse. 

Even  when  He  gathered  a  little  band  of  ear- 
nest men,  who  were  drawm  to  Him  by  their 
simple  faith,  He  had  ever  to  consider  their 
blindness  and  slowness.  He  said  once  with  the 
mystery  of  this  heavy  on  His  heart,  "  How  is  it 
ye  have  no  faith  ?  "  We  are  struck,  when  we 
think  of  such  things  at  all,  by  the  sense  of 
mystery  that  there  should  be  anything  except 


The  Victory  of  Faith        225 

the  material  things  which  we  see  and  touch. 
But  the  mystery  to  Christ  was  that  men  should 
be  so  absorbed  in  these  things,  like  a  child  with 
new  toys.  We  live  as  though  these  material 
things  were  everything ;  whereas  to  the  spiri- 
tual mind  they  are  but  temporary  expedients, 
the  body  which  hides  the  soul.  How  often 
could  Jesus  begin  a  sentence,  even  to  His  dis- 
ciples, who  were  the  very  pick  of  Israel,  with 
"O  ye  of  little  faith."  Even  after  these 
months  of  constant  intercourse  with  Him,  after 
laying  bare  to  them  His  heart  and  mind,  after 
making  them  familiar  with  His  way  of  looking 
at  things,  they  were  ever  harking  back  to  their 
old  standards  and  judgments,  and  wounding 
His  spirit  with  their  worldly  views.  "  Where 
is  your  faith  ?  "  He  asked,  as  if  He  had  ex- 
pected by  that  time  that  they  would  have  under- 
stood. 

This  demand  of  religion  for  faith  is  not  irra- 
tional ;  for  it  underlies  all  our  life.  It  is  the 
open  door  through  which  we  must  go  to  all 
success  in  life.  Even  business  is  built  on 
credits  and  confidence,  and  if  that  is  shaken  a 


226  The  New  World 

panic  ensues  and  the  whole  structure  collapses. 
All  our  social  life  in  everj  form  is  built  on 
faith.  The  family,  the  Church,  the  State,  all 
associations  of  man  are  held  together  by  this 
cement.  As  Pascal  says,  the  heart  has  reasons 
which  the  reason  does  not  always  understand. 
AVe  live  not  by  logic,  but  by  primal  faiths  and 
passionate  intuitions.  We  are  forced  to  take 
ultimate  risks  in  order  even  to  live.  Faith  is 
the  pathway  to  the  possibilities  of  human  life. 

All  thought  also  is  built  on  faith.  We  can- 
not take  a  step  towards  knowledge  without  it ; 
so  that  the  common  antithesis  between  knowl- 
edge and  faith  is  a  foolish  one.  Faith  is  the 
only  way  w^e  have  in  order  to  know.  It  is  not 
merely  that  science  must  begin  with  presup- 
positions which  it  cannot  prove,  must  assume 
the  truth  of  uniformity  and  causation.  There 
is  a  much  bigger  assumption  still.  There  is  no 
bridge  between  the  intellectual  world  within  us 
and  the  actual  world  outside  us  except  by  faith. 
We  build  up  a  picture  of  reality,  which  we  be- 
lieve not  to  be  essentially  false.  We  believe 
that  we  know  a  reality  outside  us  from  the  acts 
of  mental  activity  within  us.     We  believe  that 


The  Victory  of  Faith        227 

there  is  a  correspondence  between  our  own 
nature  and  the  reality  of  things,  so  that  what 
we  think  is  not  delusion. 

Similarly  we  create  a  picture  of  a  moral  and 
spiritual  world.  "We  have  ideals  of  beauty  and 
goodness.  By  every  vision  that  visits  us,  and 
every  prayer  that  breaks  from  us,  and  every 
aspiration  that  moves  us,  we  assert  that  we  do 
not  live  by  bread  alone.  We  have  the  right 
to  assume  that  this  world  of  spiritual  intuition 
and  moral  worth  corresponds  also  to  a  reality 
of  things  outside  of  us.  As  we  make  our  ven- 
ture of  faith  in  order  to  know,  we  make  our 
venture  of  faith  in  order  to  love.  Knowledge 
is  surely  more  than  a  mere  outside  description 
of  what  is.  A  catalogue  of  qualities  in  an  ob- 
ject never  tells  the  whole  truth.  There  is  a 
richer  world  than  that  of  bare  and  rigid  facts. 
"We  actually  live  in  that  world — a  world  of 
values,  of  purposes,  of  ideals — and  we  believe 
that  it  is  no  less  true  than  the  other. 

Science  is  made  possible  by  faith  in  a  ra- 
tional order  of  the  world,  and  religion  becomes 
possible  by  faith  in  a  moral  order.  Science 
believes  in  the  final  victory  of  reason  in  spite 


228  The  Ne-w  World 

of  ignorance  and  temporary  failure — this  is  the 
victory  that  overcometh  her  world,  even  her 
faith.  Religion  believes  in  the  final  victory 
of  good,  in  spite  of  evil  and  temporary  failure 
— this  is  the  victory  that  overcometh  her 
world,  even  her  faith.  The  mission  of  both 
science  and  religion,  each  in  its  own  sphere, 
is  to  make  their  faith  triumph.  The  very 
existence  of  the  faith  is  a  prophecy  of  its 
realization,  and  helps  to  create  the  world  in 
which  each  believes. 

Faith  thus  is  an  act  of  will,  or  rather  is  the 
will  to  act.  We  must  be  willing  to  put  it  to 
the  test.  We  cannot  be  said  to  believe  in 
the  truth  of  anything  unless  we  are  prepared 
to  act  as  though  it  were  true.  We  must  be 
ready  to  stake  our  all  on  the  assurance  that 
the  result  will  prove  worthy  of  our  trust. 
This  is  what  reliodous  faith  reallv  means  and 
does.  It  throws  itself  on  the  hypothesis  that 
it  is  right  in  believing  that  life  is  ruled  by 
loving  purpose.  The  only  proof  is  that  it 
should  turn  out  to  be  so.  Belief  is  measured 
by  action,  by  its  fruit  is  it  to  be  known. 


The  Victory  of  Faith        229 


Faith  becomes  our  conscious  choice  of  vahies 
in  life.  We  take  up  a  certain  attitude  to\Yai'ds 
life.  Some  speak  as  if  men  could  be  divided 
into  those  who  have  faith  and  those  who  have 
not.  We  have  seen  that  this  is  not  so,  that  all 
men  must  live  by  faith  of  some  sort  or  other. 
What  we  usually  call  unbelief  is  onl}^  a  dilfei*- 
ent  kind  of  belief.  It  is  not  a  question  of  faith 
or  of  unfaith.  Even  in  the  matter  of  our  fun- 
damental faith,  which  is  our  religion,  there  is 
no  real  escape  from  the  necessity  of  choice. 
It  is  as  much  a  leap  in  the  dark  to  deny  a 
basis  for  religion  as  it  can  be  to  make  the 
venture  of  faith,  and  even  to  refuse  the  leap 
at  all  is  only  to  leave  ourselves  in  the  dark, 
where 

Each  will  have  one  anguish — his  own  soul 
Which  perishes  of  cold. 

There  is  a  certain  kind  of  world  in  which  we 
conceive  ourself  to  be  living,  or  better  a  cer- 
tain kind  of  world  in  which  we  will  oui^elves 
to  live. 

In  this  vital  sense  our  faith  is  something 
other  than   our  opinions,  or   our  speculations 


230  The  New  World 

about   the  origin  of  the  world  or  about  any 
other  subject  however  serious  and  important. 
These  we  can  take  up,  or  let  go,  without  much 
result  one  way  or  the  other.     Our  real  faith 
means  that  by  which  we  are  actually  living. 
We  throw  the  w^eight  of  our  life  on  one  of  the 
great  alternatives.     If  we  live  in  practical  ma- 
terialism, assuming  that  God  and  the  soul  and 
life  eternal  are  only  words  without  reality, 
that  is  as  much  an  act  of  faith  as  the  other. 
It  is  to  say  that  that  is  the  decision  we  make 
in  the  age-old  problem.     In  any  case  our  faith 
is  central,  creating  our  world  for  us.     Of  course 
it  affects  conduct ;  for  this  faith  soaks  through 
the  whole  fabric  of  our  life.     It  may  be  un- 
conscious.    We  may  not  know  that  we  have 
made  any  choice.     We   may  think  that  we 
have  not  taken  any  decision.     The  judgment 
may  go  against  us  merely  by  default,  but  it  is 
judgment  nevertheless,  and  it  is  we  who  have 
judged  ourselves. 

On  the  one  side  we  can  throw  the  weight  of 
our  life  on  the  assumption  that  there  is  no  pur- 
pose of  good  at  the  heart  of  the  universe,  and 


The  Victory  of  Faith       231 

that  all  the  facts  that  have  made  men  reach  out 
groping  hands  after  the  unseen  and  eternal  are 
only  bitter  delusions.  In  act  and  life  we  are 
asserting  that  we  believe  that  there  is  no  ra- 
tional meaning,  no  real  end  towards  which  the 
whole  creation  moves.  An  end  in  time  of  course 
there  may  be  or  will  be,  and  if  we  are  logical 
we  can  only  welcome  the  catastrophe  which 
puts  a  finish  to  the  farce.  For  farce  it  all  is, 
the  sport  of  some  cosmic  irony.  As  for  human 
life,  it  is  no  more  than  a  fleeting  vapour  that 
appears,  and  disappears,  and  reappears,  born  of 
the  mist  and  withered  by  the  sun.  Men  who 
deny  a  place  for  religious  faith  often  think  that 
they  are  merely  making  a  negation  and  do  not 
always  see  that  their  negative  carries  in  its 
bosom  a  positive.  They  are  not  always  logical, 
but  their  attitude  is  one  of  sheer  faith.  It  is 
not,  as  they  sometimes  assume,  that  they  are 
rational  and  scientific  where  others  are  credu- 
lous. They  can  have  no  formal  proof  that  the 
world  is  as  they  assume.  In  blind  faith  they 
make  their  venture. 

They  have  the  right  to  do  this  and  to  take 
the  risks  of  their  venture.     There  is  indeed  no 


232  The  New  TForld 

lack  of  seeming  facts  and  arguments  in  support 
of  their  step.  They  look  in  vain  for  a  just  and 
loving  God  in  nature,  for  there  they  see  only 
non-moral  force.  They  stand  as  all  of  us  do 
before  the  ultimate  mystery,  and  they  refuse 
to  be  appeased  by  the  surface  interests  and 
the  glamour  of  the  present.  It  is  all  poisoned 
to  them  by  a  specious  unreality.  They  look  at 
human  life  with  the  barriers  down  and  see  so 
much  wrong  and  oppression,  so  much  misery  and 
despair.  They  refuse  to  dull  sense  and  thought 
by  the  usual  opiates.  The  hard  facts  of  exist- 
ence seem  to  compel  them  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  force  that  moves  the  universe  neither 
loves  nor  hates,  neither  pities  nor  desires,  and 
has  no  meaning  nor  purpose  in  the  blind  drive 
to  doom. 

The  average  man  who  rejects  the  religious 
h}^o thesis  does  not  push  himself  to  the  logic  of 
his  rejection.  He  does  not  become  a  suicide, 
refusing  any  longer  to  live  a  life  so  tragically 
barren  of  good.  He  does  not  even  declare  that 
all  is  vanity.  ]!^or  does  he  flounder  at  once  into 
the  bog  of  gross  living,  treating  everything 
with  cynical  levity,  only  careful  to  eat  the  fat 


The  Victory  of  Faith        233 

and  drink  the  sweet  "  for  to-morrow  we  die." 
He  does  none  of  these  things,  partly  because  he 
is  held  by  customs  and  social  sanctions  and  the 
mere  habit  of  living,  and  partly  because  he  does 
not  take  his  faith  seriously  enough.  But  what 
happens  is  this.  Assuming  the  universe  to  be 
not  moral,  he  gradually  slips  down  from  higher 
levels  of  thought  and  purpose.  Duty  has  no 
imperative  to  him.  He  cannot  be  enlisted  by 
any  high  cause  and  any  noble  passion.  The 
moral  interests  slip  away  from  him.  In  life 
and  character  he  becomes  the  fruit  of  his 
faith. 

On  the  other  side  we  throw  the  weight  of 
our  life  on  the  assumption  that  there  is  an  un- 
seen moral  order,  and  that  therefore  all  the 
facts  of  man's  spiritual  history  are  prophecy  of 
some  blessed  fulfillment.  In  act  we  are  assum- 
ing that  life  means  something  and  that  some- 
thing good.  We  believe  that  there  is  an  end  in 
purpose,  with  which  we  can  cooperate  however 
weakly  and  blunderingly.  We  cannot  read  the 
whole  riddle  of  the  universe  and  solve  the  ulti- 
mate mystery,  but  Ave  assert  that  the  best  we 


234  ^^^  New  World 

know  of  love  and  goodness  and  beauty  are  not 
illusions.  We  assert  that  the  great  summons  to 
which  hearts  have  thrilled  is  justified  by  man's 
own  nature  and  by  the  nature  of  the  world. 
Human  life  is  not  the  sport  of  chance,  and  may 
be  the  arena  for  other  qualities  than  low  cunning 
or  other  brute  force.  This  attitude  also  is  one 
of  sheer  faith,  choosing  to  make  this  venture  on 
the  world. 

We  too  have  the  right  to  do  this  and  to  take 
the  risks  of  the  venture.  There  are  supporting 
facts  and  arguments.  Even  nature  is  not  all, 
nor  mainly,  red  in  tooth  and  claw.  Human 
life  is  not  all  a  dreary  misery.  It  is  not 
merely  that  we  see  good  as  well  as  evil,  but 
that  sometimes  we  see  good  triumph  over  evil, 
and  even  we  see  good  emerging  from  the  evil. 
Many  times  in  history  and  sometimes  in  ex- 
perience we  have  known  occasions  when  the 
spiritual  forces  said  the  last  word.  We  do  not 
read  only  failure  in  the  long  story  of  idealisms, 
and  heroisms,  and  pathetic  faiths,  and  noble 
hopes.  They  did  not  always  come  to  wreck, 
but  brought  home  a  rich  freight  to  nourish 
man's  higher  life.     We  too  have  the  right  to 


The  Victory  of  Faith        235 

risk  our  life  on  the  hazard  of  the  great  faith. 
We  too  claim  the  right  to  walk  where  the  saints 
have  trod. 

Here  also  the  average  man,  who  naturally  ac- 
cepts the  religious  hypothesis,  does  not  always 
accept  the  implications  of  his  faith.  In  times 
of  crisis  he  acts  on  it,  but  often  it  is  not 
brought  out  into  active  consciousness.  Or  he 
may  have  periods  of  doubt  when  his  faith  is 
paralyzed.  Often  though  he  does  not  question 
his  faith,  he  does  not  use  it  as  a  motive.  If  he 
did  he  would  have  more  power  in  his  life,  with 
a  sense  of  security  and  a  depth  of  joy.  In 
so  far  as  he  does  act  on  the  faith  he  knows  the 
peace,  which  comes  from  believing  that  the 
world  hides  no  treachery  against  the  soul,  and 
that  life  does  not  play  him  false.  It  is  the  task 
of  organized  religion  to  keep  before  men  the 
vision  of  their  heritage,  to  feed  the  spiritual 
life,  and  to  restore  in  the  souls  of  men  the  faith 
that  will  give  them  mastery  over  self  and  the 
world. 

This  living  faith  was  the  most  marked  feature 
of  the  life  of  Jesus,  that  which  gave  it  its  calm 
poise  and  its  assured  tread.    Everything  He  did 


236  The  New  World 

seemed  to  liave  reference  to  the  larger  life.  So 
that  to  Him  the  worth  of  a  man  was  always  the 
worth  of  his  soul.  When  we  look  at  Him,  we 
realize  that  human  life  was  meant  to  have  this 
spiritual  basis.  We  are  convicted  of  failure 
when  we  are  engrossed  by  the  things  of  sense, 
so  that  the  soul  falls  away  into  the  dim  back- 
ground of  life  and  the  things  of  the  spirit  are 
as  in  a  land  that  is  very  far  off. 

The  only  proof  of  faith  is  that  it  should 
verify  itself.  There  is  countless  testimony  that 
it  does.  We  find  that  it  fits  in  with  the  whole 
case.  It  suits  the  needs  of  human  nature  and 
meets  the  necessities  of  human  life.  Man  has 
grown  to  be  man  through  such  faith.  We  look 
back  over  the  long  story  of  the  past  and  see  a 
track  of  light ;  for  we  see  a  divine  purpose  in 
the  whole  creation  which  has  travailed  upward 
in  pain  and  joy  until  now.  We  look  forward 
into  the  darkness  and  see  a  track  of  light ;  for 
the  same  divine  purpose  leads  the  world.  Only 
faith  will  bring  victory  for  the  highest  interests 
of  man  both  personally  and  socially.  Life  fol- 
lows absolutely  the  fortunes  of  faith.     Only 


The  Victory  of  Faith        237 

faith  in  eternal  values  will  brace  man  for  his 
colossal  tasks.     By  this  sign  we  conquer. 

We  must  be  willing  to  act  on  our  faith,  and 
to  risk  everything  on  the  hazard.  Otherwise  it 
is  mere  opinion.  We  need  to  make  up  our 
mind  as  to  what  we  want  from  life,  and  what 
purpose  has  taken  us  captive. 

What  think  ye  of  Christ,  friend  I    When  all's 

done  and  said 
Like  you  this  Christianity  or  not  % 
It  may  be  false,  but  will  you  wish  it  true  % 
Has  it  your  vote  to  be  so,  if  it  can  % 

The  alternatives  of  life  spread  themselves  out 
at  our  feet  almost  at  every  step.  We  can  listen 
to  pleasure  with  her  siren  song  or  to  duty, 
"  stern  daughter  of  the  voice  of  God."  We  can 
live  for  self,  sensitive  to  every  call  of  flesh,  con- 
tent with  the  material ;  or  we  can  live  for  larger 
ends,  giving  ourselves  in  richer  service,  spend- 
ing and  being  spent  for  noble  causes.  We  can 
fritter  away  our  life  in  petty  purposes,  or  we  can 
find  our  life  in  losing  it  for  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven.     Has  it  our  vote  to  be  so,  if  it  can  ? 

The  richer  the  contents  if  this  faith  is,  the 
more  potent  it  can  be.     It  is  true  that  some 


238  The  New  World 

men  are  able  to  go  on,  without  further  defining 
their  faith,  leaving  it  vague,  only  sure  that 
earth  is  not  all,  that  there  is  a  spiritual  order 
above  and  beyond  this  natural  order.  And 
faith  is  not  something  merely  to  be  embalmed 
in  creeds,  but  something  to  live  by.  FaitL 
however,  makes  its  victory  secure  when  it  is 
more  than  vague  trust  in  a  goodness  some- 
where in  the  universe.  It  takes  on  deeper 
colour  when  this  belief  in  the  worth  of  life 
and  in  the  purpose  of  the  world  is  born  of 
personal  trust  in  the  love  of  God.  The  light 
that  illumines  becomes  also  heat  that  warms  and 
comforts.  This  is  the  new  assurance  which  we 
have  in  Jesus  Christ.  "We  believe  not  only 
that  God  is,  and  is  the  rewarder  of  them  that 
diligently  seek  Him,  but  also  that  He  is  love. 
Such  love  is  seen  to  be  the  redeeming  power  of 
the  world.  It  is  also  the  clue  to  guide  us  in 
the  labyrinth  of  life's  difficulties.  It  means 
that  we  are  not  only  in  a  world  of  reason  but  in 
a  world  of  right,  not  only  in  a  rational  order  but 
also  in  a  spiritual  order.  We  are  not  only  in  a 
safe  universe,  but  we  are  in  the  hands  of  eternal 
love. 


The  Victory  of  Faith       239 

"We  learn  to  state  our  hypothesis  as  an 
affirmation,  and  it  becomes  a  firm  foundation 
on  which  to  construct  our  lives.  Faith  be- 
comes an  inspiring  motive  which  gives  us  a 
new  world,  lifting  life  to  a  higher  level  and 
endowing  us  with  peace  of  heart.  When  we 
make  the  affirmation  and  live  out  our  faith,  we 
discover  that  we  have  not  built  on  sand,  and 
when  the  storm  comes  the  foundation  is  un- 
shaken. 

Couldst  thou  love  Me  when  creeds  are 

breaking. 
Old  landmarks  shaking 
With  wind  and  sea, 
Couldst  thou  restrain  the  earth  from 

quaking, 
And  rest  thy  heart  in  Me  ? 

We  find  in  experience  that  we  can.  Jesus,  the 
Master  of  the  spiritual  world,  is  the  assurance 
to  us  of  eternal  things,  the  assurance  of  God. 
He  is  the  way  of  access  to  the  Father.  We 
bow  our  heads  and  hearts  to  Him,  and  say  with 
the  disciples'  tongue,  "  Lord,  increase  our 
faith." 

Only  faith  in  eternal  values  is  a  sufficient 


240  "The  New  World 

motive  for  the  high  tasks,  which  through  faith 
man  has  set  himself.  In  the  search  for  truth, 
we  will  fall  wearied  by  the  way  if  we  cease  to 
believe  that  there  is  abiding  truth  and  that  it 
can  be  built  into  the  life  of  the  world.  In  the 
age-long  attempt  to  establish  the  City  of  God, 
we  will  give  up  in  despair  if  we  cease  to  believe 
in  the  worth  and  supremacy  of  the  soul.  De- 
mocracy itself  stands  or  falls  with  this  faith. 
It  cannot  be  attained  nor  kept  by  force,  or 
skillful  economics,  or  prudent  legislation. 
There  can  be  no  lasting  peace  which  is  not 
built  on  justice,  and  no  permanent  social  state 
which  is  not  founded  on  righteousness.  The 
highest  social  interests  of  man  can  only  be 
safeguarded  by  the  glowing  faith  that  spiritual 
interests  are  paramount.  In  faith  we  move  to 
realize  the  visions  of  human  brotherhood  which 
have  visited  the  high  heart  of  man,  when  the 
wilderness  of  our  modern  life  will  blossom  as 
the  rose.  In  faith  we  take  possession  of  the 
new  world. 


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